by Lori Foster
Holding her hair from her face, Emma glanced around at the familiar stretch of land. “I thought we were going to the lake?”
“We are.” He kept his gaze on the road and off the sight of her creamy skin. “But I want to stop at the house first. I need to change and grab the boat keys.”
“You live at home?”
“In the apartment over the garage. I lived in Cincy for a while, just because I thought it’d be more convenient. But it didn’t take me long to decide I prefer the forty-minute drive to and from work every day.” Now, more than ever, Casey was glad he hadn’t moved out of the area.
The sprawling log house came into view. Built on a rise and surrounded by mature trees and numerous outbuildings, it looked impressive indeed. In his younger days, Casey had lived there with his father and his uncles. Morgan now had a house farther up the hill, but not more than a ten-minute walk away. Jordan had moved into Georgia’s house with her and the kids after they married, and Gabe bought a place in town with Elizabeth.
Morgan’s newest official vehicle was in the yard. Because so many people in Buckhorn lived off the beaten path or in the hills, Morgan drove a rugged four-wheel-drive Bronco. Misty, his wife, had convinced him to trade from black to white last year. Actually, she’d wanted red, but Morgan had refused that. He said the sheriff’s emblem painted on the side would clash.
Casey saw Emma take in the crowd in front of the house. With the dark glasses on, he couldn’t see her eyes. But he watched the tilt of her head, the lack of a smile on her pretty mouth.
It appeared Morgan and Misty were dropping off the kids, Amber and Garrett. They stood on the steps, Morgan wearing his tan uniform and Misty in a casual dress. Sawyer and Honey were beneath the shade on the porch, drinking tall glasses of iced tea. Shohn was there, too, with Morgan’s dog, Godzilla. All in all, they made an intimidating crowd of people.
When they saw Casey pull up and park beneath an oak tree, the kids raced to the car to greet him. The boys were shirtless and in sneakers; Amber wore a T-shirt and cutoffs and was barefoot.
B.B. twitched his ears, alert to the activity but not overly concerned. When he spotted the kids, his tail started thumping in earnest. Casey hadn’t known they’d all be there. He waited, worried that Emma would be upset to be dropped into the middle of his overwhelming family.
Instead, she sat back in her seat with a sound of wonder. “It’s incredible, but they look almost the same.”
Relieved, Casey reached over and smoothed a long lock of hair behind her ear. “Dad has gray at his temples now, but Honey says it makes him look distinguished.”
“She’s right. He’s still so handsome it’s almost unfair. And Shohn looks just like him. But, if anything, Morgan’s gotten even bigger.”
“Misty calls him a brick wall.” Casey looked at his imposing uncle in time to see Morgan pat Misty on the rump. She swatted at him and he laughed.
Shaking his head, Casey said, “I swear, they still act like newlyweds.”
“Yeah, and it’s wonderful.” Emma sighed. The kids had almost reached them. They were making a clatter, laughing and calling out. “You can see which kids are his. That shiny black hair, and just look at those blue eyes.”
Emma opened her door, not waiting for Casey. B.B. jumped out beside her and whined in excitement, practically pleading to be released so he could play with Godzilla. The kids skidded to a halt in front of Emma and then stared.
Shohn squinted up at her. His dark hair was mussed and he had dirt on his knees. “Does your dog bite?”
“Only on bones.” She grinned as she said it. “But not leg bones. Just steak bones.”
Garrett held out a hand and B.B. licked it. “Can we play with him?”
The dog whined again with the most pitifully pleading expression, amusing the kids.
Because they had plenty of land for running, Casey unhooked the dog’s leash. “You guys go easy on him, okay? He doesn’t know you yet.”
Amber stroked his muzzle and giggled when his tail started furiously pounding the ground. “We’ll watch him for ya, okay?”
Casey left it up to Emma.
“Honey won’t mind having him loose?”
“’Course not.” Luckily, Honey loved animals as much as they all did. Except for big cows and snarling hogs.
“All right.” Emma scratched B.B.’s ear, then patted his side and released him by saying, “Go play.”
B.B. bounded forward, leaping this way and that in his exuberance at seeing another dog. Godzilla went berserk with his own joy, which prompted the kids to do the same. Amber and Garrett ran off after the dogs, but Shohn hung back, still squinting. “You Casey’s girlfriend?”
Casey started to reply, but Emma beat him to it. “I’m a friend and I’m a girl, so I guess you can call me a girlfriend.”
“He’s got a lot of girlfriends.”
Emma’s mouth curled. “I never doubted it for a second.”
Shohn laughed, but in the next second Casey threw him over his shoulder and held him upside down. “Brat. Quit trying to scare her off or I’ll have to hang you by your toes.”
Casey pretended to drop him and Shohn roared with laughter. When Casey finally set him back on his feet, Shohn moved a safe distance away, posed to run, and gave a cocky smile. “If she turns you down, Case, I’ll take her. She’s real pretty.”
Fighting a laugh, Casey feigned an attack and, like a flash, Shohn ran off to join the other kids. Casey looked at Emma and saw she wore an ear-to-ear grin, which prompted his own. So she liked kids, did she? A good thing, since there were quite a few in the family. “You’re not going to turn me down, are you, sweetheart?”
Rather than answer, she said, “Gee, he reminds me of someone else I know. Now, who could it be?”
Every moment Casey spent with her canceled out the time they’d been apart. He pulled her into his side. “I was shy.”
“Ha!”
“Shohn’s only ten, but I swear he’s girl crazy already. The little rat flirts with every female, regardless of her age. Makes Honey nuts. Dad just shakes his head.” He gave Emma a squeeze. “And of course, my grandmother says he reminds her of Gabe.”
Emma laughed. “Where is your grandmother?”
“She and Gabe’s father, Brett, live in Florida, but they get up this way every couple of months to visit.”
Because Casey was lingering in the yard, giving Emma a chance to brace herself for his family, Sawyer left the porch and headed toward them. It seemed he’d been seeing patients, given that he wore dark slacks and an open-necked button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He smiled at Emma without recognition. “Hello.”
He held out his hand and Emma took it. “Hello, Dr. Hudson. It’s been a long time.”
Cocking one eyebrow, Sawyer looked to Casey for an introduction. Casey stared at his father hard, trying to prepare him. “Dad, you remember Emma Clark.”
The other eyebrow lifted to join the first. Sawyer still held her hand and now he enclosed it in both of his. If he’d been surprised, he quickly covered it up. “Emma, of course I remember you. It has been a long time. How’ve you been?”
“Just great.” B.B. charged up next to her, with Godzilla in hot pursuit. “Casey said it was okay to let him run.”
Sawyer admired the dog for a moment, then nodded. “He’s fine, and obviously he doesn’t mind the children.”
“B.B. loves kids. He’s very careful with them.”
“
He’s a beautiful animal.” Sawyer released Emma and gestured to the porch. “We were just taking a break. Would you like something to drink?”
She glanced at Casey. “We were going out on the boat…”
“There’s time. I need to change anyway.”
She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head and nodded. “Then yes, thank you. I’d love to visit for a few minutes.”
Casey was amazed at her. He’d expected her to be uncomfortable, maybe embarrassed. Instead, she waved to Honey, strolled right up to the porch and began greeting everyone with a new confidence that was both surprising and appealing. Any awkwardness she’d felt as a youth was long gone.
Sawyer shot Casey a look filled with questions.
“She’s in town to see her father.”
“The hell you say? After all this time? It’s been…what? Over eight years.”
“Dell’s had a stroke.”
“I heard.” In a small town, news traveled fast. “He’ll be okay?”
“Doc Wagner seemed to think so.” They were still in the yard, out of earshot from the others. Casey rubbed the back of his neck, struggling with how much he wanted to say. But he’d always been able to talk to his dad and now more than ever he wanted to share his thoughts. “About when she left…”
Sawyer clasped Casey’s shoulder. “I didn’t think we’d ever see her again. I worried about that girl for a long time.” He searched Casey’s face. “I know you did too.”
There was no denying that. Though he’d tried to hide it, his father knew him too well to be fooled. “You know…” He glanced up at Sawyer. “We all assumed the same things back then, with how Dell dropped her off here, and her bruised face, the way she was crying.”
“But?”
“But seeing her with him today, I realized we assumed too much.”
Sawyer gazed toward the porch where the women and Morgan gathered. “How’s that?”
“I took her to the hospital today to visit him.”
Again, Sawyer lifted his dark eyebrows. “When did she get to town?”
“Last night.”
“And you’re already chauffeuring her around?”
“It’s not like that. We’re…”
Sawyer waited.
“Hell, I don’t know.” He could just faintly hear Emma speaking on the porch, her tone friendly and natural. He watched her, saw the easy way she held herself, how she greeted Morgan and Misty. He shook his head. “I had a time of it, convincing her to let me hang around. She’s different now, but how I feel about her is the same.”
“How do you feel about her?”
Casey scowled. “I’m not sure, all right? I just… Seeing her again made me realize how much I’d missed her.” He was starting to feel sixteen again, waiting for his father to give him another lecture on the importance of rubbers.
“Nothing wrong with that.”
Casey shifted uncomfortably. “Her car broke down on the way into town last night. Gabe fixed it for her this morning, but she needed to visit her dad early so she could catch Dr. Wagner. I drove her, then waited around. And damn, listening to her with her father, well, things aren’t as they always seemed.”
“Honey is waving at us. Maybe you better catch me up later.” They started toward the porch, but halfway there Sawyer asked, “Do you know what you’re doing, Case?”
“Yeah.” He frowned. “At least I think I do.”
“Will Emma be moving back home?”
He shook his head. “She says not. She has her own business in Chicago, and some very close friends there.”
“So she’s only here for a spell?”
Not if he could help it. “I don’t know.”
“But you want her to stay?” Sawyer didn’t wait for an answer. “Maybe we can help. As for her father, I’d planned to pay her folks a visit anyway, to see if there was any way I could help.”
“I’ll go with you when you do.”
Morgan eyed them both when they finally started up the wooden porch steps. Because he’d spent some time hunting for Emma after she’d run away, Casey had no doubt he was bursting with questions. But Morgan would never deliberately make a woman uncomfortable.
Emma had already been seated in a rattan rocker across from Honey. She’d slipped her feet out of her sandals and had her toes curled against the sun-bleached boards of the porch.
Morgan said, “Why don’t you take my boat. It hasn’t been out in a while.”
“All right.” He peered at Emma, trying to read her expression. “Maybe I can talk Emma into skiing.”
Emma held up her hands. “Oh, no. I need to get used to the boat first before I try anything out of the boat.”
Misty crossed her arms over the railing. “I finally learned how to ski, but I look pathetic when I do.”
Morgan bit her ear. “You look sexy.”
Rolling her eyes, Misty said, “Morgan is starting to drool, so I guess we better get going.”
“A date with my wife,” Morgan rumbled. “That doesn’t happen very often.”
Hands clasped together, forehead puckered, Emma came out of her seat. “Before you go, could I talk to you just a minute? I mean, all of you?”
Everyone stared. Casey held his breath.
Making a face, Emma said, “I’m sorry to hold you up, but since you’re all here, I figured it’d be a good time to apologize.” She sneaked a quick look at Casey. “And don’t tell me it’s not necessary, because it is to me.”
“Damn it, Em…” He took a step up the porch stairs toward her.
Morgan laced his arms around Misty and pulled her back into his chest. “Well now, I suppose we’ve got a few minutes to spare.”
Misty snorted. “And the curiosity is probably killing him.”
“Casey’s right.” Honey leaned forward in her chair. “You don’t owe us anything at all. But if you want to talk…”
With his hand on the back of Honey’s chair, Sawyer said, “I’m curious too. Where’d you go the night you ran off?”
Casey glowered at his family. He thought about just flinging Emma over his shoulder, as he’d done to Shohn, and carrying her off. But that’d probably shoot any chance he had of getting on her good side. He could tell this was important to her, so he locked his jaw and waited.
Emma turned to Morgan first. “My father told me that you looked for me after I took off. I’m sorry that I put you to that trouble by not explaining better when I left, and I’m especially sorry that any of you worried about me. Kids do dumb things, and that night it didn’t occur to me that any of you might worry.”
Because no one had ever worried about her before? Casey didn’t like that probability, but he knew it was likely true.
She turned to Sawyer next. “I never dreamed that you’d actually look for me.”
“We just wanted to know for certain that you were okay.”
Honey agreed with her husband. “You were awfully young to go off on your own.”
“I know. And I appreciate your concern.” Her cheeks dimpled with her smile. “It’s why I came here that night, because I knew you’d be nice and that you’d understand. I’m sorry I took advantage of you.”
“Enough apologies,” Misty said. “Morgan likes to fret—it’s why he’s a sheriff—and Sawyer’s no better. They’re both mother hens. Obviously you and Casey have made up now, so all’s well that ends well.”
Casey took that as his cue to move to her side. Without confirming or
denying Misty’s statement, Emma said, “Thank you.”
But Morgan wasn’t ready to let it go. “So where’d you disappear to?”
Misty gave him a frown, which he ignored.
“Chicago. I met some very nice people who helped me figure out what I wanted to do. I finished up school and started my own business. Things have been great.”
Bemused, Casey could only stare at her. If he hadn’t heard the full story—or rather, a less condensed version—he would have believed her life to be a bed of roses. Damn, she was good at covering up. He’d have to remember that.
“What kind of business do you have?” Honey asked.
“Massage therapy. I have my own small studio.”
“Ohmigod,” Misty enthused. “I know women in town who drive weekly into Florence for a massage. They’ll be all over you if they find out.”
“Not that Misty needs to leave home for that sort of thing,” Morgan stated, while rubbing her shoulders. Misty just smiled.
“Are you going to be in town long?” Honey asked.
“I’m not sure yet.”
Casey caught her hand and laced his fingers with hers. He didn’t want to hear about her leaving when she’d only just come home. “We have to get going.”
“I thought you wanted to change.”
“I will, but I figured we’d swing into the apartment on our way down to the lake.” The house overlooked the lake, and from the back, it wasn’t too far to walk to reach the shore. Casey’s apartment above the garage was on the way, so he decided to just drag Emma along with him. The quicker he got her alone, the better.
“All right.” Emma finished off her glass of tea. After slipping her sandals back on, she thanked Honey again.
“Will you be back in time for lunch?” Honey wanted to know.
If things worked out as he hoped, they’d spend the rest of the day together. “We’ll grab something on the lake, but thanks.” Casey hugged the women, said farewell to the men, and led Emma back to the car so she could get her satchel. They went around the side of the house to the garage apartment. Before Emma could call B.B., he fell into step beside her, along with all the kids. The dog almost looked to be laughing, he’d had such a good time.