Summer Heat

by Carly Phillips

Faintly, Louise smiled. Interesting. Very interesting indeed.

  * * *

  Until the moment they encountered Lance’s mother and brother, Tamara had been enjoying herself immensely. Cody was rested from a long nap, and the night was comfortable. Walking next to Lance, holding Cody’s hand, Tamara felt young for the first time in years. Young and carefree.

  It was heavenly.

  Until they ran into Louise Forrest at the kiddie Ferris wheel, and one of Tamara’s most dreaded moments came to pass.

  It was impossible to miss the resemblance between Cody and Curtis—and Tamara had always thought it odd that their names were so similar, too. She had seen Tyler and his son when the boys were one and two, respectively, and had known to stay clear of all Forrests thereafter. It wasn’t completely possible—she knew Curtis sometimes went to Cody’s day care, for example—but she did her best.

  It wasn’t strange to her that neither Lance nor Tyler had noticed the resemblance between the boys. Men just didn’t notice such things unless a woman brought it to their attention.

  Louise was the one Tamara worried about. A man might be oblivious, but never a mother, and never, ever a grandmother. And judging by the measuring expression on her face, Louise didn’t need anyone to point out anything.

  Since Tamara couldn’t very well grab Cody and bolt now, she moved forward on leaden legs, trying to keep her face expressionless and distantly friendly.

  “Uncle Lanth!” Curtis cried, and rushed into his arms. “I rode the Ferrith wheel!”

  Lance picked him up easily, and Tamara felt a queer little flip in her stomach. He had such a sweet way with children. It lulled her into thinking he was steady. That would be a mistake. Gentle didn’t necessarily mean reliable.

  “You did?” Lance said. “Do you want to go again, with Cody? It might be more fun for both of you to have somebody to ride with.”

  “Yeah, I do,” Curtis said, peeking over Lance’s shoulder at Cody.

  “Cool!” Cody cried. “Can I?”

  Tamara nodded. Her heart raced, but she tried to act normally. “Sure.”

  “Mama,” Lance said, “this is Tamara Flynn. My mother, Louise Forrest.”

  “Hello,” Tamara said, quietly.

  “Nice to meet you, Tamara,” Louise replied. Her bright blue eyes were the exact same shade as Lance and Cody’s, and Tamara felt a pang of conscience. Whatever her reservations about Lance as a father figure, Tamara had also deprived a grandmother of her grandchild.

  She looked away, glad of the distraction when the boys climbed into the car of the Ferris wheel. She gave the man tending the ride some tickets.

  Lance bent over the boys, making sure they were securely fastened before he let the attendant close the safety cage. Looking at the pair of preschoolers side by side, Tamara was amazed how very much alike they looked. It was more than similar coloring and bone structure; they had mirroring gestures and facial expressions, as well.

  Tamara crossed her arms. Considering they lived in the same small town, it was amazing that someone had not commented on it before now.

  Or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe a lot more people knew the truth than didn’t. In that case, it might be considered bad manners to comment.

  “Why, those two boys could be kin!” Louise exclaimed.

  “I never noticed how much Cody looks like Curtis,” Lance said, almost at the same moment.

  Tamara tried to take a breath no one would notice. She let it out slowly, and murmured, “Mmm-hmm.”

  “It’s amazing,” Lance said.

  The only one who’d said nothing was Tyler, and Tamara felt his silence like a siren. He stood next to her, quiet, and she snuck a glance at him. He seemed to sense her gaze, and looked down.

  He winked.

  It was the first time Tamara had ever seen anything like amusement or anything half resembling a smile on his face.

  He knew.

  Of course he did. His late wife had worked with Valerie for a while. He would know the whole story. The whole story.

  She smiled in thanks. She didn’t know why, but her gut told her she could trust the silent, haunted mountain man.

  “Oh, look what a nice time they’re having together!” Louise exclaimed. “How about letting us take Cody with us, and you two can go and have a beer or something?”

  Tamara looked at Lance. Something hot and wicked rose in his eyes, and she suddenly wanted very much to have the chance to be alone with him for a little while. Just to talk. Hold hands, maybe. Listen to him laugh.

  Touch him. The very strength of the longing made her protest. “I don’t know how Cody will feel about that.”

  “Let’s ask him,” Tyler said. “Curtis doesn’t get to be around other children much, since we live so far out, but Cody probably does. He might want to be with his mom.”

  As the boys came off the Ferris wheel, Curtis loped along beside Cody, his cowboy boots scuffing up dust. Hesitantly, Curtis reached for Cody’s hand.

  Cody looked a little surprised, but he didn’t pull away. In fact, he leaned close, in a protective, older brother kind of way, and said, “Were you scared?”

  Curtis made a guileless face. “Juth a little bit.”

  Louise chuckled, and put a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “You were just like that with Jake. Worshiped the ground he walked upon.”

  “C’mon, Ma,” Lance said with a chuckle. “Don’t embarrass me in front of my girl, now.”

  His girl. The phrase felt insulting and warming all at once. “I’m no girl, Mr. Forrest, and I don’t belong to anyone.”

  “Here, here,” Tyler said.

  “Mommy,” Cody said. “Can I ride with Curtis on all the rides? I think he needs somebody bigger.”

  Tamara smiled. “Sure. Come here and let me ask you something.”

  “I’ll be right back,” Cody said.

  When they were out of earshot of the others, Tamara said, “Curtis’s grandma and daddy are going to take him to all the kid rides. Do you feel okay going with them? I’m just thinking about riding the big Ferris wheel with Mr. Forrest.”

  “Sure! I like Curtis’s daddy. He brings me gum.”

  “Oh, he does? I didn’t know that.”

  Cody gave her a patient sigh. “Curtis and me eat lunch together whenever he comes to school.” His eyes narrowed faintly. “Curtis has a Power Rangers lunch box. And his dad makes him beef jerky instead of peanut butter.”

  “Is that right,” Tamara said dryly. She stood and took his hand. “If you don’t mind, then, I will go ride the grown-up rides.”

  “With Mr. Forrest #1,” he said with a bubble of laughter. “I’m going with Mr. Forrest #2.”

  “And Mrs. Forrest,” she said as they rejoined the others.

  “Oh, heck, you can call me ‘Grandma,’” Louise said with a wink. “Everybody else does.” She looked at Tamara. “That is if you don’t mind.”

  Tamara couldn’t help it. Under the bright pointedness of Louise’s gaze, she blushed. “I don’t mind,” she said quietly.

  Louise smiled. “All right, then, boys,” she said, taking a hand of each, “let’s go have us a time!”

  “See you after a while,” Ty said. “But don’t hold your breath. You know how Mama is about carnivals.”

  “I remember,” Lance said. “Thanks, man.”

  “No problem. Curtis will love it.” Ty gave Tamara a faint smile. “All I ever hear about after a day at preschool is Cody this, Cody that. Cody knows how to read. Cody has a Batman lunch box.”

  Tamara chuckled. “And Cody just told me that Curtis has Power Rangers.”

  “Maybe they should trade,” Lance said, taking her hand. He waved the other at Ty pointedly. “Bye now.”

  Tamara looked up at Lance in surprise. If any other man had behaved this way, she would have sworn he was jealous. But Lance? He didn’t strike her as a particularly jealous type.

  Ty leaned over and said something in Lance’s ear. An odd, hard expression crossed Lance’s face
as Ty straightened. “Don’t take him too seriously,” Ty said to Tamara, and walked away before she could reply.

  “I think you have a fan,” Lance said. His voice sounded tight. “I haven’t heard him say three words to a woman since his wife died.”

  Tamara looked at him, lacing her fingers more closely around his, liking the strength and power in them. “You know,” she said with a smile, “you almost sound jealous.”

  “You know what?” he said, leaning close, “I think I am.” His expression showed puzzlement. “That’s not usually my style.”

  She didn’t know what to say to that, but it gave her a quick, hopeful rush. Standing there in the unseasonably warm night, with wild colors staining the air, Tamara simply looked at him. “You keep surprising me,” she said at last.

  “Yeah?” he said. “Does that mean you aren’t going to be mean to me anymore?”

  Tamara laughed. “I don’t know. Depends on how well you mind your manners.”

  He lifted a wicked brow. “Ah, you wouldn’t make me behave, would you? I’m so much better bad.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Full of bad clichés, you mean.”

  “Maybe.” He grinned and tugged her hand. “Let’s go find us some wild rides,” he said, and wiggled that wicked brow one more time.

  In spite of herself, Tamara laughed, and let him lead her away.

  * * *

  Lance had not had so much fun in years. Literally. He forgot work, forgot his still-lingering grief, forgot everything.

  And as they rode one ride after another, Lance remembered why he’d always loved the carnival when he was a randy teenager with nothing but sex on his mind. In the small cars, spun by centrifugal force, Tamara’s body was plastered against his most of the evening. It was a delicious, faintly sinful thing to slip his arm around her and feel the soft weight of a breast against his rib cage as the Teacup smeared her against him. She screamed and clutched him, and jumped off one ride only to want to go on the next.

  She looked absolutely dazzling tonight. Her dark hair gleamed and swung at her slim shoulders, and the fabric of her shirt clung nicely to her full round breasts and slim waist. The lines of strain had eased and she looked young and free and delectably sexy.

  Stumbling off a third thrill ride in a row, she said, “I think we need to do something tame and let my stomach calm down.”

  Lance flung an arm around her shoulders. “I’m glad you said that, sugar, because I might have had to do an unmanly thing if we rode another one.”

  “You should have said something!”

  “Oh, no. I can’t let some girl be wilder than me.”

  “How about the Ferris wheel?” she said, pointing.

  “We can do that.”

  As they reached the line, however, Tyler, Louise and the boys joined them. “The kids are worn-out,” Louise said.

  “Mommy,” Cody said, “can I spent the night with Grandma? Me and Curtis?”

  Worry clouded Tamara’s eyes. Lance bit his lip to keep from urging her to do something she wasn’t comfortable with, but he wanted her to say yes. “Oh, I don’t know.”

  “I’d really like to have him,” Louise said. “But if you like, I can take them with me and Lance can bring you around to pick him up when you’re finished.”

  Tamara wavered. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

  “Heavens, no!” She grinned at the children. “We’re going to have a fire and a story.”

  “Please can I spend the whole night? I like fires!”

  Tamara bit her lip. Lance wanted her to say yes, wanted to have the chance to put his hands on her, to maybe even make love, but the conflict was too deep. “I’ll take you over there when we’re done and you can see how he’s doing,” he said. “How about that?”

  She gave him a grateful smile. “Okay.” She bent over and kissed Cody’s head. “Be good, now.”

  He flung his arms around her neck. “Thank you, Mommy!”

  As they walked away, Lance took Tamara’s hand. “Do you still want to ride the Ferris wheel? Or can we go someplace a little quieter?”

  Fear flickered on her face, and Lance cursed himself for pushing. “Quieter? What do you mean?”

  “Never mind,” he said with a smile. “Let’s ride.”

  They climbed into the car, and settled in, a new awkwardness between them. Lance didn’t try to touch her as they moved around, stopping at intervals to allow other customers to be loaded in. At one point, the whole wheel made a low groaning. “What was that?” Tamara asked in alarm.

  “Just the machinery burping,” he said, but his mechanic’s ear wasn’t quite sure. It sounded like a missed gear. When they came back around, he’d get them off. In the meantime, he didn’t plan to worry her.

  “Look at that,” he said, gesturing toward the lights of the town, spread out below them, and winking in isolated hollows between the trees. “I remember when you couldn’t see anything but blackness up there on the mountain. It’s like a fungus, spreading over the earth.”

  She smiled. “You’re the construction magnate,” she said.

  The wheel gave a jerk and moved up one more notch, putting them a little past midway. Lance listened for, but did not hear, the odd grinding.

  Tamara made a soft noise and gripped the bar in front of them as the car swung faintly. “It’s really high,” she said breathlessly. “I haven’t been on a Ferris wheel in a long time.”

  “All those wild rides, and not a peep, and now the Ferris wheel scares you?” he teased.

  “Those others are all enclosed, and they just go fast or upside down.”

  As slowly as possible, so the car wouldn’t rock, he eased closer and put his arm around her. “You can hang on to me.”

  Her body flowed into his, hip to hip. “Thanks.”

  “Ah-ha—it’s a ploy, isn’t it? You want to ravish me,” he joked.

  The car jerked upward, and Tamara clutched his leg with a fierce grip. This time the grinding sounded again, and Lance frowned. Definitely a skipped gear.

  “What is that? I don’t think I want to stay on.”

  Privately, Lance agreed. “It’s nothing. I’m the engine guy, right?”

  “Yes.” The word was tight and closed, and her grip on his leg had not eased at all.

  “Let me guess,” he said. “You’re afraid of heights.”

  “Bingo.” She laughed. The sound was whispery. “Isn’t that ridiculous, for a woman raised in the mountains?”

  “Not at all. I read somewhere that vertigo is connected to inner-ear imbalances.”

  The wheel jerked again, but only moved a half a foot. This time, Tamara moaned outright. “I’m really imbalanced then.”

  Lance pulled her closer, wrapping both arms around her. She buried her face in his shoulder, and he could feel a faint trembling in her body.

  And he thanked the stars or God or whoever it was that had arranged this moment. High above the earth on a clear mountain night, with this woman pressed so close against him, he felt an odd sense of peace. Of disconnectedness to anything but her.

  The wheel jerked again, harder, and with a quick, stomach-wrenching movement, they sailed upward, maybe two positions. Then another. The car swung slightly, almost at the top. The wheel ground noisily, and Lance could see a crowd gathering, far below. He frowned when he realized the operator was unloading riders, rather than loading them on.

  “What’s happening?” Tamara asked in a faint voice. Her face was pressed tightly into his shoulder.

  “We just have to get to the bottom and we’ll get off.” The worst that could happen was that the wheel would freeze. It wasn’t as if the cars would come loose or anything of that nature. He was comforted by the fact that they were on the way down.

  Even if it was a long, long way yet.

  A shout came from below, and the wheel made a long, extremely loud grating noise. It moved one inch, maybe two. And stopped.

  By the cursing below, Lance knew they were in for a wait. He
doubted it was anything serious, but he also doubted Tamara would take that news in stride.

  She lifted her head. “We’re stuck, aren’t we?”

  “’Fraid so.”

  Her face was white. “I hope I don’t have to be sick.”

  “You won’t,” he said, and gently pulled her back into his arms. He stroked her back, and her arms, and felt her trembling begin to ease. Her breast pushed into his side, infinitely plump and soft, and Lance fought an image of her naked and pressed against him this way. His unruly member leapt to attention at the thought, and he shifted slightly to accommodate it.

  To distract himself—and her—he said, “So tell me about the last book you read.”

  “The last book?” she echoed nervously. “Uh… Accounting Procedures.”

  “No, not for school. For fun.” Under his arms, she was rigid as a rock. “Surely you’ve read something interesting recently.”

  She peeked over the edge. Her fingers dug almost painfully into his thigh.

  “Don’t look down, sweetheart,” he said. “Look at me. Let’s just talk. They’ll get us out of here safe and sound.”

  With clear effort, she dragged her gaze upward, and focused on his face. “Why do I torture myself with high rides like this when I know heights make me sick?”

  He grinned. “You’re a daredevil at heart?”

  A ghost of a smile touched her lips. “That must be it.”

  Up close like this, her beautiful eyes full of fear and bravery in equal measures, with her thigh next to his, and her warm body nestled against his, she was more than any man with a lick of sense could resist. “So, what was the last book?”

  A frown wrinkled her brow for a moment. “Let’s see…it must have been Alice Hoffman. It was a wolf story—I’ve been on a magical realism kick.”

  He smiled. “That fits.”

  “Oh?” She narrowed her eyes. “How so?”

  “You’re a very practical woman, but I see that wish in you for things to be magical.”

  “Are you a fan of those kinds of books?”

  “Me? Not really.” He lifted a shoulder. “I don’t have time to do a lot of reading, but I usually go for suspense or horror when I do.”

  “Stephen King kinds of things?”