“Hi, Michael. How did you get down here?” Dallas sat on the ground next to the child.
“I just wanted to see if there was any blackberry bushes down here, but when I started to walk down, I hurt my ankle and tumbled to the bottom and then I couldn’t get back up. Are you mad at me?”
“Nah, I’m not mad at you,” Dallas replied. “Did you hurt yourself anyplace else besides your ankle?”
“I skinned up my elbow a little bit.”
“Let me see.” Dallas trained his flashlight on the boy’s elbow, which was indeed skinned up, but it was nothing serious.
“I’ll bet my mom and dad are mad at me,” Michael said, his voice trembling with the promise of tears once again.
“I think they just want you home with them. They love you very much. Now, let me take a look at that ankle.”
It was swollen, and although Dallas didn’t believe anything was broken, it was definitely sprained. “When I try to stand on it, it hurts awful bad.” Michael began to cry again. “I thought nobody was ever going to find me down here and my bones would just turn to dust and I’d blow away.”
“Well, that’s not going to happen now,” Dallas said. He wrapped the ankle and then got up on his haunches. “Can you get on me, piggyback?”
The boy maneuvered himself until he was clinging to Dallas’s back.
“Hang on tight. We’re going up.”
Several other flashlights shone from above, letting Dallas know some of the other searchers had arrived. “Dallas, do you need a rope or any help?” Forrest called.
“No, I think I’m okay.” It didn’t take too much effort for him to get up to the top, where his horse was waiting. He placed Michael on the saddle and then mounted up behind him. “Let’s get you home.”
He wrapped his arms around the little boy as they headed back to the house. There would come a time when he’d have his son or his daughter on a horse in front of him just like this. The thought shot yet another thrill of fatherhood through him.
When they reached the house, Dallas dismounted, plucked Michael off the horse and carried him up the front steps.
“You can put him right in here,” Holly said, and gestured them into the living room and to the sofa. Dallas followed her, along with several of the other men.
The minute Dallas attempted to place the boy down, Michael’s arms tightened around his neck. “Thank you, Mr. Dallas, for not letting me be lost forever. Thank you for not letting my bones blow to the wind.” He kissed Dallas on the cheek and then released his hold on him.
Dallas straightened, his heart touched by the sweet kiss he’d just received. Holly immediately moved to her son’s side and pulled him into her arms.
“You might want to get a doctor to check out his ankle,” Dallas said. “I think it’s just sprained, but an x-ray wouldn’t be a bad idea.”
“We’ll take care of that,” David said. He shook everyone’s hand and thanked them all profusely.
Minutes later Dallas was riding back to his place to stable his horse and then get back to Avery’s. Thank God this search and rescue had a happy ending. Thank God the boy’s injuries hadn’t been more severe.
Dallas had a feeling little Michael had two things in his near future: a better ankle wrap and a lecture from his parents about leaving the house without permission.
Now that the rescue had been resolved, Dallas’s head filled with thoughts of Avery and what had happened between them before he’d left the house.
Making love with her again had been as hot and as magical as the first time they’d been together. In fact, this time had been much better, because he did care about Avery, where the first time she’d been nothing but a tempting stranger.
He shoved those thoughts away. With the adrenaline from the search ebbing, he was just too tired to try to sort out his feelings about Avery.
It was almost two when he softly knocked on her front door, cursing the fact that he didn’t have a key and couldn’t get inside without disturbing her.
It took three knocks before she finally came to the door to let him in. Her hair was tousled and her eyes were at half-mast with sleep, but she offered him a beautiful smile and asked him about the missing child.
“He was found and is back home safely with his parents,” he told her. “Now, go back to bed.”
She didn’t argue with him. As she headed down the hallway to her bedroom, with Lulu at her heels, he fought the desire to go with her and curl up in her bed with her in his arms.
Instead he headed for the sofa. As he settled in for sleep, he realized she must have been sleeping there while waiting for him. Her scent lingered on the pillow and in the blanket.
He breathed in her sweet fragrance and within minutes he was asleep.
He woke just after dawn, despite the fact that he hadn’t gotten back to Avery’s house until after two in the morning.
Although he was wide-awake, he remained on the sofa. It would be hours before Avery got up. Before she did, he needed to figure out what he would say or even if he was going to speak to her about what had happened between them the night before.
He told himself that he’d fallen into bed with her because the conversation about Ivy had stirred up old memories and had created a deep pool of grief inside him, and all he’d wanted was to be with Avery to take away his pain over his dead wife. All he’d needed was warmth and passion to take away some of the ache. It could have been any woman, he told himself firmly.
But he suspected he was lying to himself. There was only one reason he’d made love with Avery, and that was because he’d wanted to. It was as simple and as complicated as that. Last night he’d acted on a desire for her that had been burning inside him since the moment he’d seen her again. His passion had been for Avery, and for Avery alone.
Now that he’d acted on that desire, he had hoped it would go away. But it hadn’t. Instead it had merely stirred more passion for her inside him.
And it had to stop. He had to stop. By making love with Avery he was jeopardizing his future with her and his children. He couldn’t take the risk of things going south with her. He hoped they could get back on track with a friendship-only relationship despite what had happened between them the night before.
When she got up they had to have a conversation about it. He had to tell her that it had all been a big mistake.
He finally roused himself from the sofa and padded to the guest bathroom. He took a quick shower and then went to the kitchen to make himself coffee.
He sat at the table, and as he drank the fresh brew his mind filled with other troubling thoughts. First and foremost, he wanted whoever was after Avery behind bars. But that wasn’t the only thing that concerned him.
Last night, after they’d found Michael and before he had left the Miller ranch, he had spoken with both his brothers. Donovan had told him how frustrated everyone was about the lack of leads in the mummy case.
There had been seven women killed forty years ago. The murderer had been caught and had died behind bars. But the newest murders tied back to that old crime. Somehow law enforcement had missed something.
Dallas knew Chief Thompson and his men were doing everything in their power to investigate, but already the cases had stalled out and no new information was coming in.
What he hated more than anything was the fear that filled the young women in Whisperwood. Forrest had told him that after dark the streets of the town were nearly deserted, as women locked themselves in their homes for safety.
What had they missed before? What were they missing now? Elliot Corgan had gone to prison for the murders of the women. Was it possible the wrong man had been convicted? Unfortunately, they couldn’t go back and re-interview Elliot. There was no way to question a dead man.
Had he really hanged himself? Had guilt caused him to take his own life? Or had he been “helped” to his death in order
to protect somebody else?
Dallas was on his third cup of coffee when Avery made her appearance. She looked lovely in a green blouse that complemented her eyes and a pair of jeans that hugged her slender legs. She smelled of minty soap and the evocative fragrance that always stirred him.
“Good morning,” she greeted him as she went to the cupboard to grab a cup for tea.
“Good morning to you,” he replied. “And how are Jack and Jill this morning?”
She laughed. “They’re good.”
He watched as she made her tea and then sat in the chair opposite his. “You slept well?”
“After you got back home, I slept like a baby,” she replied. “What about you?”
“I slept okay,” he said.
“So, tell me what happened last night. You said you found the little boy. Where was he?”
He told her about finding Michael at the bottom of the ravine and that the little boy had been looking for a blackberry bush. “All I could think about was if someday my son got lost, I’d hope a lot of people would look for him until he was found.”
“Let’s hope neither of our children ever get lost,” she replied. “And let’s agree that we will never read our kids a book about a magical land behind a blackberry bush.”
“I totally agree,” he replied.
He cupped his hands around his cup, hating the conversation he needed to have with her. “Avery, we need to talk about last night.”
“What about it?” Her eyes suddenly held a soft vulnerability. “Dallas, before you say anything, I want you to know that for me it was more than wonderful.”
He frowned and looked down into his coffee cup. Damn, but he wished she hadn’t said that. That was only going to make this conversation more difficult.
“Was it not so wonderful for you?” she asked softly.
He jerked his gaze back to her. “No... I mean, yes. It was wonderful, but you know we can’t do that again.”
“I don’t expect anything from you. We could make love a dozen times and I still wouldn’t want anything from you except that you be a terrific father to our babies.”
Oh, he wished she’d stop looking at him with such sweet yearning. He wished she hadn’t said they could make love a bunch more times and their relationship would remain static. It wouldn’t. Relationships didn’t stay static and he was still adamant that he didn’t want to marry again.
There was no future for them as romantic partners and he was afraid that eventually, no matter what she said, he would hurt her, and then things would get awkward and difficult.
“Avery, I just think it’s better if we don’t go there again,” he finally said. “We both know that’s not the kind of relationship we need to have.”
She was silent for several long moments. “Okay, whatever you want,” she finally replied, although he thought he heard both regret and disappointment in her voice. This time she broke their gaze and looked down into her teacup.
God, already he felt like a total heel. He wanted to take back his words, but he couldn’t. They had needed to be said.
“How about some breakfast?” She looked back at him. “I feel like an omelet.”
“That sounds great to me.” He breathed an inward sigh of relief that the conversation about them making love was over.
As they ate, they talked about their favorite breakfast foods. “I’ll confess, I’m a big fan of biscuits and gravy,” he said. “Although a cheese omelet with sides of bacon and toast run a close second.” He gestured to the food before him.
“Pancakes,” she replied. “Pancakes dripping with butter and syrup.”
“Waffles with strawberries and powdered sugar.”
She grinned at him. “Eggs Benedict.”
“Eggs over easy.”
She laughed. “We sound like we’re playing some game of food wars.”
He grinned at her. “Then I declare myself the winner of the game.”
“Whoa, what made you the winner?” Her eyes sparkled merrily.
“Trust me, when it comes to food games, I’ll always be the winner.”
“Okay, I’ll give you this win,” she replied. “But that doesn’t mean you get to win all the battles. We’ll see who is best at changing a diaper.”
He was grateful that she seemed fine after the talk they’d had, and had even teased him. The good vibes between them continued as they finished up the meal and then moved to their computers. One of the things Dallas found so surprising was how very comfortable he felt around Avery.
Despite what had happened between them the night before and the rather tough conversation he’d had with her this morning, he felt as if they were building a strong friendship.
He found her ability to get silly absolutely charming. He also liked having serious conversations with her about parenting and politics, about world views and personal goals.
He’d have to get over the fact that there were times when she gazed at him and his heart stepped up its rhythm, or that the scent of her stirred him on a level that had nothing to do with friendship.
It concerned him that for the past couple days he’d been unable to remember Ivy’s smile. Every time he tried to pull up her smiling countenance, he saw only Avery’s.
He didn’t want to ever forget his wife, the woman he had pledged his life to. The last thing he wanted to do was diminish how much he’d loved Ivy. He needed her in his heart.
He cleared his head of all thoughts as he got to work. Donovan had also told him the night before that Chief Thompson and his men were stretched to their limits. They were not only working the murder investigations, but also on the growing drug issue in Whisperwood.
Dallas and Avery worked until noon and then stopped for a lunch of sandwiches and chips. When they were finished she got up from the table and placed her hands on her lower back and winced.
“Back bothering you?” he asked.
“Yes, Popeye and Olive seem to be riding me pretty hard at the moment.”
He smiled at her use of old cartoon characters’ names. “Do you want to stretch out on the sofa and I’ll give you a quick massage?”
Her eyes lit up. “Oh, Dallas, that would be wonderful. Would you mind?”
“I wouldn’t have offered if I minded,” he replied.
However, the minute she got comfortable on her side on the sofa and he began to massage her lower back, he wanted to take back his offer.
She moaned with pleasure as he worked his hands and kneaded her warm, bare skin. Her face was turned away from him and her eyes were closed.
It would be so easy for him to lean forward and kiss her cheek. It would be so incredibly easy to slide his hands up and unfasten her bra and start something he had no business starting.
He focused on the massage for another couple minutes and then backed away from her. “Better?” he asked, as he helped her into a sitting position.
“Much better. Thank you.”
“I’m going to get back to the computer,” he said. He went into the kitchen, grateful for the small distance from her. He settled back at the table to work and assumed Avery was doing the same in the living room.
That was the routine they fell into over the next week. They shared breakfast and then surfed the web until lunchtime. After lunch he worked some more on hunting down soldiers and she often took a nap.
Chad and Danny popped in for another visit, but had nothing to add about the threats against Avery. Chad talked about some of the cases they were prosecuting and asked Avery for her advice.
As Dallas listened to Avery talking with her coworkers, he was once again struck by her intelligence and her passion for her work. He knew that eventually, after the twins were born, she intended to go back to work, and he was on board with that. There was no doubt in his mind that she could be a great mother and a great prosecutor at th
e same time.
They now sat side by side on the sofa as another day wound down. Lulu was in Dallas’s lap, curled up and happy as he stroked his hand down her back.
Dallas didn’t know when he’d felt such contentment. There was such a sense of peace inside him, a peace that he knew had to do with Avery.
This place had begun to feel more like home than his own cabin. Here was warmth and laughter and the anticipation of the future with his babies.
His cabin had come to represent loneliness and isolation. He dreaded the time when he’d go back there. Hopefully, when the twins were born and he could take them to the cabin, he’d feel differently about the place he called home.
Twice in the past week he and Avery had left the house, once to get some groceries and then to retrieve her car from the authorities. Both times he sensed no danger surrounding her. Thankfully, the outings had been uneventful.
The most difficult thing he’d had to battle over the past week had been his growing feelings for the mother of his children.
It wasn’t enough that he desired Avery with an energy that burned within him night and day. He was shocked by the level of affection he felt toward her. He loved being around her. She charmed him with her laughter and he wanted to know what she was thinking when she grew pensive.
He liked their conversations and enjoyed the quiet time they shared. Yes, the truth was she and this place had begun to feel like home. And it wasn’t his home. He had to keep reminding himself that this was just a temporary resting place in his crazy life.
“I think I’m ready to call it a night,” Avery said, when the show they had been watching ended. She got up from the sofa. “I wonder if it’s raining?” It had been a cloudy day with overnight rain in the forecast.
He watched as she moved to the window and peered outside. Instantly, her entire body stiffened. “Dallas,” she whispered. “There’s somebody outside. I—I think it’s Joel Asman.” She turned around to face Dallas, her face a sickly shade of white. “Why is he here? What’s he doing out there?”
Dallas grabbed his gun. “Lock the door behind me,” he said urgently, and then flew out the front door.
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