“But despite all the emergency and police officers that responded at the house, Nurse Jane Oliver managed to slip away. She either killed him or she knows something about his death.” Dallas’s frown deepened.
It had all definitely been disturbing. The Austin authorities had questioned the four of them at length and had finally let them go. Had it been the nurse who had yanked the oxygen away from Horace and then bound his hands, to make it impossible for him to save himself?
“Hopefully, the authorities will be able to find and question her,” Avery replied, and then stifled a yawn. “At least the mummy murders from all those years ago have been solved.” The adrenaline that had filled her began to seep away. “I’m going to call it a night. Suddenly I’m exhausted.” She placed Lulu on the floor and then pulled herself up from the sofa. Dallas got up, as well.
“I hope you sleep extra late tomorrow,” he said, as he walked with her down the hall. “I know it’s been a really long day for you.”
They reached her door and she turned to face him. To her surprise he leaned in and captured her lips in a soft kiss that sent a sweet wave of heat fluttering into her heart.
He stepped back from her and smiled—the smile that still had the capacity to intensify the heat inside her, but now also created a hint of heartache.
“Good night, Avery,” he said softly, and then turned and headed back down the hallway.
Avery and Lulu went into her room and she closed the door. Within minutes she was in bed and trying to quiet the chaos in her mind that the end of day always brought.
She finally drifted off to sleep, and awakened the next day shocked to realize it was almost eleven. She showered and dressed and went to find Dallas, who was sitting on the sofa with the television on. Lulu was curled up at his side and she realized at some point during the morning he must have opened her door to let the pooch out.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” he greeted her.
“Hey yourself,” she replied. “What are you watching?”
“All the news about the mummy killer being identified. We’ve gone national with the story. You just missed Chief Thompson giving a news conference.”
“Let me get a cup of tea and then you can catch me up on everything.”
She went into the kitchen and fixed her tea and then joined him on the sofa. “So, what have I missed?”
“Not much, since you were there in person for most of it. The main thing is Jane Oliver seems to still be missing and the authorities want to find her for questioning.”
“More than a little bit suspicious,” Avery murmured. She took a sip of tea and placed the cup on the coffee table in front of them. “But if she was responsible for his death, did she have some other motivation, or was it just because she’d heard what he did?”
“That’s a mystery the authorities will have to solve. At least we don’t have to chase down soldiers anymore. So maybe you should call and see if you can get into your nail place later today.”
“I could just do a walk-in. I really don’t need an appointment. I would like to have them done before the babies come. I have a feeling there won’t be much time for myself once they arrive.”
He smiled. “Then you just set the time and I’ll be glad to take you.”
“Thanks, Dallas. I really appreciate it.” She turned her attention to the television, because she was afraid if she looked at him for one more minute, she might blurt out how much she was in love with him.
She wasn’t sure how long she would be able to spend her days and nights with him before she spoke of her love, and she knew that would ruin everything.
She had to think of her babies first. The last thing she wanted to do was mess up her relationship with their father. She didn’t want awkward handoffs and tense interaction with him in the future.
At two o’clock they left the house. As usual, Dallas watched his rearview mirror as they pulled out on the street and headed for Natalie’s Nails.
“Do you really think the danger to me is still present?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, after a moment of hesitation. “But I do know I’m not ready yet to leave that to chance. Are you?”
She placed a hand on her stomach, reminding herself that it wasn’t just her own safety at risk, but also the babies she carried. “I guess not,” she admitted.
She was just going to have to keep her feelings for him stuffed inside, no matter how difficult it was for her. At least for the next hour or so she could focus on being pampered as she got her nails done.
Natalie’s Nails was like an oasis in the middle of a desert. Palm trees and blue water were painted on the walls and several fountains filled the air with the sound of gurgling water. The setting was definitely tranquil despite the smells of acetone and other chemicals used to transform short, stubby nails into beautiful works of art.
As Maria, one of Natalie’s nail specialists, filled the foot bowl with hot, sudsy water and eased Avery’s feet in, she relaxed in the chair. Then Maria left them alone.
Dallas sat in the large, black leather massaging chair next to hers. “So, what exactly do they do for you when you get a pedicure?” he asked curiously.
“First you soak for a few minutes and then Maria will come back and scrub my feet with a brush. This exfoliates all the dead skin and feels absolutely wonderful. She then trims the nails and after that she rubs in all kinds of oils and lotions that make your feet feel wonderfully soft and rested. I’ve seen lots of men in here getting pedicures. You should get one.”
“Nah,” Dallas replied. “I’m good.”
She grinned at him. “Come on, Dallas. In fact, I challenge you here and now to get your very first pedicure with me.”
He glanced over at Maria and then looked back at Avery. “You’re sure men do this?”
“Absolutely,” she replied. “Are you up for it? Keep in mind I’m hugely pregnant with your children and you don’t want to upset me.”
“That’s not playing fair,” he replied with a laugh. He reached down and pulled off one cowboy boot and then the other. “Okay, challenge accepted.”
Avery motioned to Maria and within minutes Dallas had his own feet in a bowl of sudsy water. “I have to admit, this feels really good.”
“If you want, you can turn on your chair massager, too.” She watched as he looked down at the controls that would heat and beat, or roll in waves down his back.
He punched several of the buttons and then relaxed into the chair. “This feels great. I think maybe women have kept the salon a secret from men for too long.”
She laughed, delighted that he was next to her. “You know, in some salons they have little fish in pools of water, and when you put your feet in they eat off the dead skin.”
He leaped forward and raised his feet out of the bowl. “Is this one of the salons that do that?”
Once again she laughed, this time at the panicked look on his face. “No, I promise you there aren’t any little critters in the water.”
He eased his feet back down. “The only place I like to see fish is on the end of a pole or frying in my skillet.”
“I’m assuming you intend to teach the kids to fish.”
“And ride horses and learn to love the outdoors.”
“I’d love that for them,” Avery agreed. “I’d far rather see them be outdoorsy kids than cooped up inside with video games.”
“That makes two of us. Still, I want them to be good students and learn good study habits.”
Avery laughed. “They aren’t even here yet and we’re already worried about their study habits.”
“I can’t wait for them to get here.” He held her gaze for a long moment and once again her love for him buoyed up inside her.
“I can’t wait, either,” she replied, grateful at that moment that Maria and another nail specialist came over to be
gin working on their feet.
It was obvious Dallas felt uncomfortable as the pedicure continued. The fact that he’d gone out of his comfort zone, that he’d agreed to it solely to please her, touched Avery in ways she’d never been touched before.
She chose a pretty pearly-pink polish for her toes and fingernails, while Dallas opted out of the polish process. An hour later they left the salon.
“Thank you for bringing me,” she said, once they were in the truck and headed home.
“Thanks for introducing me to the joy of a pedicure. And if you tell anyone I got one, I’ll have to kill you,” he replied teasingly.
She laughed. “What a typical man.”
They got back to the house and once again settled in on the sofa. “How about you rest for the remainder of the day and I’ll take care of dinner tonight,” he said.
“You aren’t going to get an argument out of me,” she replied.
At six o’clock they ate a meal of cheeseburgers and fries, and then settled once again on the sofa to await bedtime. Darkness fell outside as the night deepened. Once again as she sat next to him, her love for him so full in her chest, she was almost afraid to speak about anything.
Instead of allowing herself to talk about her feelings for him, she thought that maybe getting him to talk about the woman he’d been married to might confirm to her that Dallas would never, ever be hers.
Besides, she suddenly wanted to know more about the woman he’d committed his life to, and who Avery suspected still filled his heart to such a capacity that there wasn’t room for another woman.
“Tell me about Ivy, Dallas,” she said. She instantly felt his tension and wondered if she’d just made a big mistake.
Chapter 13
Dallas stared at Avery and waited for the stabbing, killing grief that always occurred when he thought of his dead wife. He waited and waited, and that stabbing pain didn’t happen. Instead a hollow wind of loss swept through him. It was the sadness of having lost a loved one he would never forget, but it was a loss he could deal with.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked,” Avery said hurriedly.
“No, it’s okay.” He leaned back against the sofa and for the first time since her death allowed memories of Ivy to fill his head. “She was beautiful and driven.”
“How did you meet?”
“We actually met at the army recruitment office, where we both signed up for four years of duty.” The memories continued to flood through him. “It was an instant connection and we wound up going out for coffee that day.”
He got up from the sofa, needing to pace while he spoke of the wife he had lost. “She was bright and funny, and within three months we were married. And then we were deployed to different posts.”
“That must have been hard on the two of you,” Avery said.
“We managed the circumstances. We video chatted every day and tried to plan our leaves at the same time.”
“Tell me more about what she was like as a person.”
He turned and looked at Avery. It was funny how his memories of his dead wife were less sharp than they had once been. When he tried to bring up a vision of Ivy in his head, what he saw was Avery. When he thought about shared laughter it was always the laughter he shared with the twins’ mother.
“Even though she had a good sense of humor, generally she was a serious woman who knew exactly what she wanted in her future. Her parents had divorced and her father disappeared from her life when she was six. Her mother struggled to make ends meet, and one of the reasons Ivy joined the army was for the educational opportunities that came with it. She wanted to make sure she always had the means to support herself and any children she might have.”
“That’s smart for any woman in this day and age,” Avery replied.
He nodded. He walked over to the window and stared out into the night. He was still waiting for that familiar, agonizing grief to consume him. But it simply wasn’t there. What he felt now was a profound sadness that she had died before her time and that they had never gotten to experience the many plans they had made for their lives.
Now those plans were gone, but life had handed him an unexpected gift and new plans for his future. Ivy was his past, an important part that he would never forget. He would always have love for her in his heart, but there was no place for her in his new future.
He turned back to look at Avery and was stunned to see tears trekking down her cheeks. “Avery! What’s going on?” He walked over and sat next to her. “Why are you crying?”
She shook her head and swiped at the tears. “It’s nothing,” she replied, keeping her head down.
“Avery, look at me. It can’t be nothing. ‘Nothing’ doesn’t make you cry.”
More tears chased each other down her cheeks. “It’s foolish, really. I’ll be fine in just a minute.”
“But what started your tears?” he pressed.
She lowered her hands and looked up at him. Her eyes were big and luminous and lovely. “I love you, okay? I love you, Dallas. I love you with all my heart and soul, and I want to spend all my days and nights with you.” She clapped a hand over her mouth as he stared at her in utter surprise.
He hadn’t expected this. Oh, he knew that she felt close to him, that she appreciated him watching over her and that she loved the kind of father she thought he was going to be.
But this...this declaration of love had him stunned.
Before he could reply, the back window exploded inward as a large rock flew through the glass and hit the floor.
“Stay here and lock the door after me,” Dallas said urgently. He grabbed his gun off the coffee table and flew out the back door.
Every nerve in his body was electrified. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Somebody had to be in her backyard to have thrown that large a rock through the window. He intended to catch the culprit. He had to catch the person and get him arrested.
There were plenty of trees and bushes to hide behind and he had no doubt that somebody was back there hiding. Where in the hell was he?
Dallas got a better grip on his gun as the coldness of a hunter overtook him. He sensed somebody close by. All he had to do was figure out where the thug was and what he intended to do next.
He hadn’t taken the time to see if the rock had a message on it. He didn’t give a damn about a message; he wanted the perp. He’d heard no rapid footsteps, no indication that whoever had thrown the rock had run away.
Approaching one of the bushes, he felt his muscles tense. The moonlight overhead was obscured by clouds, but there was enough illumination for him to see that nobody was there. So where was the bastard who had thrown the rock?
Before he could turn to check out the next bush, something crashed down on the back of his head. The blow exploded in his brain with flashing lights and he crumpled first to his knees and then to the ground.
His last conscious thought was that he now knew what the perp had wanted when he’d thrown that rock through the window. He’d wanted to get Dallas out of the house so he could get to Avery.
Avery! He screamed her name in his head and then darkness descended.
* * *
Where was Dallas? What was taking him so long? Avery stared at the big rock that had been propelled through the window. There was nothing written on it. There was no note attached. It was just an ordinary rock.
She stared at the back door worriedly. Where in the heck was Dallas? Why hadn’t he come back in yet? She jumped as a knock sounded on her front door. Was that him?
She hurried over and peeked out the peep hole. It was Chad. What on earth was he doing here? She opened the door. “Chad, did you see Dallas anywhere?”
“Actually, I did. I just saw him running up the street. What’s going on?”
She ushered him into the living room and pointed at the rock on
the floor. “That just sailed through my window and Dallas went out to see if he could find who was responsible.”
Chad frowned. “So, bad things are still happening? I came by to tell you that word on the street is the heat is completely off you, that Dwayne Conway’s thug friends have found bigger and better targets.”
“So then what’s going on, and where is Dallas?” she asked frantically.
“Maybe Dallas will be back soon or maybe he’ll never come back.”
She looked at her friend in surprise. “Chad...why on earth would you say something like that?” She released an uneasy laugh. What was Chad doing here? How odd that he would show up right now.
“Does that make you afraid, Avery? To think that your bodyguard boyfriend might not return to protect you?”
Avery stared at him and her heart began to pound an unnatural rhythm. “Wha-what’s going on, Chad? Why have you come?” He had never stopped by at this time of the night before.
For the first time she noticed that his eyes were the cold, electric blue that she’d seen only when he was in the courtroom. There was absolutely no warmth in them.
A cord pulsed in the side of his neck and Lulu whined, as if responding to the sudden tension in the room. Avery bent down and took the dog into her arms. “What’s going on, Chad?”
“I’ll tell you what’s going on, Avery. Poor Danny. You went and broke my buddy’s heart.”
“What are you talking about?” Avery asked, her heart now crashing into her ribs with a simmering panic. “How did I break his heart?” Dear Lord, where was Dallas? What had Chad done to him?
“You used him. You let him buy you diapers and put together cribs and believe he was going to be a part of your and your babies’ lives. Then you threw him away when cowboy Colton rode back into the picture. You know who does things like that, Avery? A whore does things like that.”
She blinked hard, shocked by his words. Whore? That was what the note around Lulu’s neck had called her. Whore! “It was you all along,” she said with a gasp, and took a step back from him.
Target in Jeopardy Page 17