Stranger in my Arms

by Rochelle Alers

  Merrick, who lay in bed with Alex in the Kirklands’ guest bedroom, rested a hand over her distended belly. They’d come to Georgetown for dinner and found themselves snowbound.

  “Why don’t you go to Florida when the airports are back on schedule.” Alex felt as if someone had caught her throat, not permitting her to breathe. Merrick had changed, but she’d attributed that to his work at the CIA. Most nights he came home, went directly to the bathroom where he showered, then flopped in front of the television until she called him for dinner. He always helped her clean up the kitchen, waited for her to come to bed, turned over and fell asleep.

  Sitting up, she turned on the lamp on her side of the bed and shook him awake. “Merrick, are you having an affair?”

  He moaned and threw an arm over his face. “What?”

  “I know you heard what I said.” She repeated her query.

  Merrick sat up. “No. Oh, hell, no!”

  Alex pulled her lower lip between her teeth. “Then, why is it we haven’t made love in more than a week? Is it because I’m fat and ugly?”

  “Ali, my love,” he crooned, reaching for her, but she turned her back. “You are the most beautiful woman in the world.”

  “But I’m fat.”

  “Baby, you’re pregnant. Pregnant women always put on weight.”

  Turning over to face him, Alex touched the side of his face. “You’re not having an affair?”

  “I would never cheat on you, Ali.” Merrick combed his fingers through her curls.

  “Then, what’s the matter, Merrick? Why do I feel as if we’re growing apart?”

  Merrick wanted to tell her, unload all he’d discovered about his mother, but he couldn’t. “I’m involved with something at work that has me distracted.”

  “Can you talk about it?” Alex asked.

  “No, baby. It’s classified.”

  She smiled. “That’s all you had to say.”

  He kissed the end of her nose. “Any time I start acting strange, talk to me.”

  “You’re always strange,” Alex teased.

  Merrick’s hand searched under the hem of her nightgown, trailing up her thighs. “How’s that?”

  She pressed her forehead to his. “You have a way of looking at a person that makes them feel as if you have X-ray vision. Then you have a habit of sneaking up on folks wherein they look up and you’re there.”

  “Do I frighten you, darling?”

  She closed her eyes, smiling. “Not anymore.”

  “When did you stop being afraid?”

  “The day I became Mrs. Merrick Grayslake. I knew I could never live with a man who frightened me.”

  “Have you given what I said some thought?”

  “About you wanting me to go to Florida?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why do you want me to go away, Merrick? And please don’t tell me it’s classified.”

  “I’m involved in something that may put you and the baby in danger.”

  “What is it?”

  “That I can’t tell you.”

  “You want me to go away for how long?”

  “I don’t know,” he answered truthfully.

  “No, Merrick. If you can’t give me a time frame, then I’m staying here. We’re buying a new house and I plan to focus all of my energies on decorating it before the baby comes.”

  “I don’t want to fight with you, Ali.”

  “Then don’t,” she shot back.

  “I will if I have to.”

  “Are you threatening me, Merrick Grayslake?”

  “No, I’m not. I’m telling you that I’ll do what I have to do to keep you safe. If that means hiring someone to watch you when I’m not here, then I will.”

  Alex’s hands curled into fists. “I will not become a prisoner in my home.”

  Merrick pulled away and lay on his back. “You will become anything I want you to become until what I’m involved in is over.”

  Alex struggled to control her temper. “When will it be over?”

  “Dammit! I don’t know!”

  She swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her movements were slow and awkward as she made her way over to a window. “Don’t you ever raise your voice to me again!” she ground out between clenched teeth. “In case you failed to notice I am your wife, not your chattel. Yell at me again and you don’t have to worry about hiring someone to protect me, because I’ll be out of here so fast you’ll forget what I look like.”

  Merrick moved off the bed, stalking her like a large cat. “You will not leave me. You will not take my child from me.”

  “Me, me, me,” she mimicked. “Why is this about you? What about me?”

  “It is about you, Ali. Everything in my life, everything I do is about you.” He threw up a hand. “Do you think I really wanted to go back to the CIA?”

  “Then why did you?”

  “Because I needed to support my wife and family.”

  “I don’t need you to take care of me.”

  He took several steps, bringing them inches apart. “What kind of man would I be if I let my wife foot the bill for everything? How long would it take for me not to feel like a man? Be a man?”

  “Why are you equating your manhood with money?”

  Grasping her shoulders, he pulled her to his naked body. “I have to, Alexandra, because that’s who I am. Do you think your father would’ve given us his blessing if I didn’t have a job?”

  Her eyes widened until he saw into their clear gold depths. “What does my father have to do with us?”

  “Your father asked me how I was going to support you.”

  “When?”

  Merrick told her about the confrontation with her father as an expression of disbelief swept over his wife’s incredibly beautiful face. Being pregnant made her lush, more feminine.

  “Even though you’re carrying David Cole’s grandchild, he still had the stones to blindside me in front of his brothers and sons to question me about how I was going to take care of his precious baby girl.”

  Her lids fluttered. “I didn’t know, Merrick. I’m sorry my father—”

  “Don’t apologize for him, Ali,” he spat out, cutting her off. “What your father said came from his heart. I have to respect him for that.”

  Resting her palms on his pecs, Alex pressed a kiss over his heart. “I’m sorry for fighting with you, mi amor.”

  He cradled her belly. “We don’t fight, baby.”

  “What do we do?”

  “Disagree.”

  “I…I…” Her eyes were wide as silver dollars. Placing her hands over Merrick’s, she pressed them to her swollen abdomen. “Did you feel that?”

  “Feel what?”

  “The baby, Merrick. She kicked me.”

  He placed his hands on her belly. “I don’t feel anything.”

  Alex gasped. “She kicked again.”

  “Where?”

  “Here.”

  Merrick closed his eyes and waited. Then he felt it—a soft flutter. It happened again. A well of emotion filled his chest, making it difficult for him to draw a breath. His daughter was moving. Now she was real, very, very real.

  Going to his knees, he pushed up Alex’s nightgown and kissed his wife’s belly. “I love my girls,” he whispered, placing soft tender kisses over every inch of her swollen flesh.

  Alex cradled Merrick’s head as an angelic smile spread over her face. Her baby, their baby, in making her presence known, had forced a truce between her mother and father.

  Merrick rose to his feet and swept Alex up in his arms. He carried her back to bed and proceeded to make love to her slowly, gently, as if he feared she would shatter into a million tiny pieces.

  He gave, she received, she gave and he was there to receive. A wave of ecstasy came upon them so quickly they didn’t have time to react. A fireball exploded and they fell headlong into a maelstrom of uncontrollable joy that ebbed to a deep feeling of sated peace.

  Chapter 31


  The following morning Merrick asked Michael to take a walk with him. He knew by the expression on Michael’s face that he thought he’d taken leave of his senses; who’d want to go for a walk when some streets were still impassable because the sanitation department hadn’t gotten around to removing the mountain of snow from residential neighborhoods?

  Michael recognized and quickly processed the tension in his friend’s request, and agreed. “What’s up, Gray?” he asked once they attempted to navigate a narrow path on the sidewalk, made by booted footsteps.

  “I need a favor.”

  Michael stared up at a startlingly blue, cloud-free sky. The warmth of the winter sun felt good on his face. “Ask away.”

  Merrick stomped his feet, knocking snow off his boots. “I need you to look after Alex.”

  Closing his eyes, Michael smothered a savage expletive. “What the hell are you involved in now?”

  “I can’t tell you. It’s—”

  “Classified,” Michael said, cutting him off and completing his statement. He shook his head. “I thought you were going back as a trainer?”

  “I did.”

  “But right now you’re not training anything or anyone. I don’t want to be the one who said I-told-you-so, but I’m going to say it anyway. I told you that they were going to recruit you for some clandestine operation. I know how they operate, Gray. It’s one thing to be in the field and wait for your orders, and another completely when you’re sitting at the top in an office making decisions as to who they can use and who is expendable. If nothing else, working at the Pentagon taught me that.”

  Merrick waited for Michael to finish his tirade, then said, “This is personal, Kirk.” The two men stepped into a snowbank to let a woman pass.

  “How personal?” Michael asked.

  “It involves my mother.”

  “Is she alive?”

  Merrick shook his head. “No. The only thing I will tell you is that she was tortured before she was executed.”

  “Oh, damn. I’m sorry, Gray.”

  “It’s okay. What I find strange is that when I found out how she died I didn’t feel anything. No anger, no sadness.”

  “That’s because you never met her. Do you have a photograph of her?”

  Merrick shook his head. “No.” He’d tried accessing her file through an intra-agency database, but her name had been deleted.

  Clasping his gloved hands behind his back, Michael gave his friend a sidelong glance. “How much danger is my cousin in?”

  “Life threatening.” Merrick had decided not to mince words.

  “She can live with me until whatever crap you’re involved in is over. I’m sure Jolene would love to have Alex around. I’ll be home until the end of January. I hope you complete your mission before that. If not, then we’ll have to come up with another plan.”

  “I want her to go to Florida and stay with her folks.”

  “Did you tell her that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did she go off on you?”

  Merrick stopped and stared at Michael. “Did you hear us last night?”

  Michael shook his head. “No. But I know my cousin, Gray. She’s not going to Florida because she doesn’t want to, but because you told her to go. Alex is sweet, funny and generous. But she’s also as stubborn as a mule. You don’t tell Alexandra Cole what you want her to do, you ask her. Let her think it’s her idea.”

  Merrick frowned. “I don’t have time to coax and coddle. Not with what I’m up against.”

  “Your wife is with child, Merrick. She is not the same Alexandra you met and fell in love with. Once she has the baby the old Alex will return. Right now you can’t do anything to set her off. I’m a witness. I’ve lived through and survived the nine months of horror.”

  “Because you’ve survived the horror, what do you suggest I do?”

  “Tell her you have to go away for a week, and that you want her to stay with me because you don’t want her left alone because of the baby.”

  “But I’m not going away. Besides, I’ve never lied to Alex.”

  “Merrick, my friend. You are lying to her. Her life and that of your unborn child are at risk, yet you’re telling her she has to go away. And when she asks why, you tell her it’s classified. Look, man, if you have to lie, cheat or kill a son of a bitch to keep your family safe, then you do it. Tell Alex you’re involved in some training program and see what she says. I’m willing to bet she’ll volunteer to hang out with me and Jolene.”

  “Okay, I’ll give it a shot. But if she balks, then it’s World War Three.”

  Michael smiled. “If you’d told me you were fooling around with my cousin I would’ve given you the four-one-one on her. After all, she’s a Cole woman and they are a breed unto themselves.”

  “Amen,” Merrick said under his breath. “I’m ready to go back. Thanks for hearing me out.”

  Michael patted his shoulder. “No sweat. After all, we’re family.”

  He and Michael had returned to the house at the same time Jolene and Alex walked into the kitchen. They shooed the women to the family room while they prepared a country breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, grits, biscuits, freshly-squeezed orange juice and brewed coffee and tea.

  Michael put on several CDs, and the music flowing from hidden speakers added to the festive mood. Six-month-old Teresa, who’d begun pulling herself up in her crib, crawled around on the floor, getting underfoot. Jolene placed her in a playpen in a corner of the large kitchen and the little girl cried hysterically until Alex freed her from the mesh-covered prison.

  Jolene glared at Alex. “She’s spoiled enough without you adding to it. I should send her home with you.”

  Alex kissed Teresa’s curly black hair. “Do you want to come stay with Titi Alex? I wouldn’t mind taking care of you for a couple of weeks to give your mama a break.”

  “Why don’t you hang out here with us for a couple of weeks?” Jolene suggested. “We can go shopping for baby clothes and furniture to decorate the nursery in your new house.” She smiled at her husband. “Would you mind if your cousin stayed with us?”

  Michael affected a stern expression. His wife had given him and Merrick the opening they needed. “Are you asking or telling me, Jo?”

  “I’m asking, Michael.”

  He waved a slender hand. “Alex is family. You don’t have to ask. Who you should be asking is Merrick. After all, he is her husband and he just might have something planned for the two of them.”

  “Merrick and I don’t have any plans,” Alex volunteered.

  Merrick stared at Alex rather than Michael. He knew if he looked at his wife’s cousin, he wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face. He felt relieved that he didn’t have to lie to Alex.

  “Did you forget that we close on the house January ninth?”

  “No,” Alex said. “That’s not going to take more than an hour or two. As soon as we get the keys I want Jolene to see the house.”

  Jolene dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin. “Have you decided what style of furniture you want to put in it?”

  “Not really.”

  “Now, that’s going to be fun.”

  Alex shifted Teresa to her other knee. “Merrick, would you mind if I stayed here with Jolene? We have a lot of shopping to do, and I would like her opinion on things like wallpaper.”

  “I don’t mind at all,” Merrick said much too quickly. He ignored Michael’s incredulous stare. “You know I have no interest in wallpaper, paint colors or what fabric you want on some chair or other doodad.”

  “Are you sure you’re not going to miss me, mi amor?”

  “Miss you? Aren’t we going to see each other at night?” Merrick affected a frown. “If you’ve found someone you’d rather be with, please tell me now.”

  Alex blushed like a schoolgirl with her first crush. “Who’s going to want me looking like this?”

  There was a long-suffering silence. “I want you, Ali,” Merrick said, his voice fi
lled with emotion.

  Michael cleared his throat. “Damn, my brother. You don’t have to show your woman you’re whipped.”

  “Stay out of it, Michael,” Jolene warned softly. “Please,” she whispered when her husband opened his mouth.

  Michael caught and held his wife’s gaze. He knew how Merrick felt about Alex because he felt the same about Jolene. He’d fallen in love with her on sight, and each day he grew more in love with her.

  Chapter 32

  Merrick opened and closed his eyes in an attempt to relieve the burning. He’d been staring at the computer monitor for hours, searching one database, then another for something that would link Duffy to something—anything the government could use to issue an indictment.

  He headed a team of four, including himself, who’d worked tirelessly for the past three months researching every lead given them. So far, Duffy had come up clean.

  He came in early and worked late, yet his private life had remained stable. He and Alex had closed on the house in Alexandria and her priority was decorating it before giving birth.

  The Kirklands’ offer of their guest wing had become a necessity once the Arlington condominium was sold. Merrick was more relaxed because Alex wasn’t left alone during the day. Whenever she had to see the doctor he took time off from work to take her.

  Merrick was aware that Alex didn’t like that he didn’t go anywhere without the small but powerful handgun tucked into his waistband, but it was a topic he refused to discuss with her.

  He glanced over at a female computer programmer who’d been Ashleigh’s recommendation. Merrick was astounded with what she could do with one keystroke. “What screen are you looking at, Patty?”

  “DEA.”

  “Patch me over.”

  Within seconds the Drug Enforcement Administration logo appeared on his monitor. The fact that Duffy had been DEA before leaving to start up his lobbying firm made them a part of the investigation.

  Pen in hand, a pad of paper nearby, Merrick began scrolling down a listing of names of past and present agents, hoping to connect at least one to Duffy’s present operation.