What a Woman Wants

by Tori Carrington

  He moved away from her and toward the door, peeking out first to make sure the coast was clear.

  Darby sank against the pillows, watching him, realizing that this time she hadn’t given him an answer to his question. She wondered exactly what, if anything, that meant.

  “Even Dusty is involved in the manhunt,” Jolie said out of earshot of the twins and her foster child, Ellie.

  They stood at the far counter in Jolie’s bright and cheery kitchen, while the kids sat behind them on the other side of an island at a pine table. They’d returned home from Sunday church service two hours ago, had lunch, then used egg boiling as an excuse to chat quietly.

  Darby glanced at Jolie. “Dusty is? You’re kidding me?”

  Her friend shook her head. “I guess these two fugitives are the real deal. The kind they make television films out of, you know? Every man in town wants in on the hunt.” She slanted a gaze at Darby. “You know, there aren’t too many opportunities for them to play hero here.” She glanced away. “This is the first time since the big fire last year.”

  “You think that’s why they’re all doing it? To be heroes?” Darby shook her head. “I don’t think that’s why John is doing it. He wouldn’t even know the definition of the word hero. He would say he’s just doing his job.”

  “Dusty, too.”

  Darby paused from the business of mixing egg-coloring solutions in oversize juice glasses. “You don’t think Dusty plans to blacken his other eye, do you? The one has just healed.”

  Jolie laughed. “I think he considered it after getting word that John had moved out to the farm. But I think that storm cloud has blown over. For now, anyway.” She gave Darby a loaded look. “However, I wouldn’t count on it not making a return if the two of you don’t hurry up and tie the knot.”

  Darby nearly knocked over a vial of green dye.

  Jolie homed in on her. “Don’t tell me you’re still refusing to marry him, Darby.”

  Darby glanced toward the twins, but amazingly they seemed engaged in their own activities dragging wax crayons over hard-boiled eggs. This once she wished they had been paying attention.

  Up to this point, she’d managed to put off her friend whenever she brought up the subject of the baby, or John, either finding an excuse to end their phone conversation or quickly changing the subject. She had the sinking sensation Jolie wasn’t going to let her do the same now. She glanced to find her friend smiling in determination.

  “Come on, Darby. The guy loves you. You have to know that,” Jolie said quietly.

  Darby suddenly found it difficult to swallow. “Do I?”

  Jolie stopped drying the eggs she had taken from a pan of cool water. “Oh, my God, you don’t know, do you.”

  Darby felt her cheeks redden, but lifted her chin just the same.

  “Hmm, you know it wasn’t so long ago that we had another conversation like this. Only, the man was Erick.” Jolie crossed her arms and leaned against the counter.

  Darby balked. “John and Erick are nothing alike. They may have been best friends, but two different men you couldn’t find should you search the world over and back again.”

  Jolie’s smile told Darby she had stepped right through the door she’d just cracked open.

  “You’re sneaky, you know that?”

  Jolie shrugged. “A woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do.”

  Darby turned her gaze to the window. Spring had kissed the grass with green, and fresh buds were popping out all over the oak tree. “Erick was the quintessential hotshot, you know? I think it stemmed from his being Dusty’s younger brother. Or maybe the next in line in a family of firefighters, I don’t know. But it always seemed to me that he was desperate to prove something.” She frowned. “No, not desperate. He was driven. Or determined. Yes, that’s the word. Determined. He wanted to be the best just because he didn’t know any other way to be.” She cleared her throat and recapped the vial she held. “I always felt I came in a distant second to that, you know? Even though he loved me fully. Was always gentle with me. As if he wanted to be the best in that department, too.”

  “And John?” Jolie asked.

  Darby instantly smiled, her shoulders relaxing. “John is…well, John is just John,” she said.

  Jolie continued drying eggs. “Uh-huh,” she encouraged.

  “Oh, you know,” Darby said, not certain she really wanted to get into John’s many qualities for fear of what she might find herself.

  “Uh-huh.”

  Ultimately Darby couldn’t resist talking about the man who was on her mind day and night, even haunting her dreams. The man whose essence clung to her like a second skin. “John is just John. He doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone. He does what he thinks is right straight out of the box, no second-guessing, but he’s open-minded enough to admit it when he’s wrong. He’s sheriff not because anyone in his family was, but because the job needed to be filled and he thought he could fill it. So he hung up his firefighting cap and ran unopposed.”

  “Uh-huh,” Jolie said again.

  Darby nudged her with her arm. “Isn’t that enough?”

  “You said Erick was gentle with you, as if he needed to be the best in the bedroom, too.”

  Darby gasped and gaped at her friend.

  “Come on, Dar, both you and I know that’s what you were talking about. It’s only fair you give John his due.”

  “I’m going to tell Dusty you’re interested in other men’s performances.”

  “No, you won’t. Because then you’d be revealing that I’ve told you about his he-man antics.”

  Darby laughed so hard she couldn’t see straight. “Okay. You’re right there.

  “So…”

  Darby shrugged, her skin growing hot just thinking about John’s attentions. “He’s…passionate. Almost rough, but not quite. Not afraid to show me how he really feels. And what he seems to feel is this need to…possess me somehow. Chase everything else from my mind and my heart so there’s room for only him.”

  Jolie had grown quiet. “And is it working?”

  Darby was suddenly incapable of swallowing.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Jolie said, her smile making a comeback. “You know, Dar, I think it would be a good idea to put your ideas aside for a minute and take a closer look at the man independent of everything going on.”

  Darby’s free hand instantly sought and found her rounded belly. “Kind of hard to overlook a baby, Jol.”

  “I didn’t say to overlook it. I said to take a peek at the larger picture.”

  “I am,” Darby whispered.

  “Are you?”

  There was a ruckus at the table behind them. “That’s mine!” Erin cried. “Give it back!”

  Darby turned to watch Erin practically launch herself at Lindy.

  “Is not!” Lindy yelled back. “You were done with it, so I started using it, and that’s the only reason you want it back.”

  Darby picked up the three cups of dye solution and walked to the table, placing them on the thick sheets of newspaper Jolie had spread to protect the table the same way plastic aprons protected the girls. “That’s enough. Erin, you can use the crayon again when Lindy’s done with it.” She wiped her hands on her own cloth apron and bent to Ellie. “Let’s see what you’ve done, El.”

  The little girl gladly held up her egg.

  “Ooooh, that’s pretty,” she said of the dots and slashes the five-year-old had made.

  She sat down next to Erin while Jolie took a chair next to Lindy. They both looked through the eggs waiting to be dyed.

  Darby ran her fingertips over a particularly skillful depiction of the holiday. “Oh, Erin. This is wonderful. Jesus rising. Very good.”

  Lindy made a face. “That’s not Jesus. It’s Daddy.”

  Darby nearly choked on her own saliva as she stared at the girl she’d spent much of the night holding, then looked at Jolie who appeared just as shocked as she felt.

  The two-way radio
, the holiday, John’s presence in their lives—it all came together to paint a clearer picture of what was going on in her daughter’s young mind.

  And left Darby even more clueless about what to do about it.

  Chapter Twelve

  Front-porch sitting. John couldn’t remember a time when he’d enjoyed it more. Or enjoyed it at all. Of course, his trailer didn’t even have a front porch. But as a kid, he used to hate being on the porch of his family’s house because it usually meant either his mother had booted everyone out so she could clean or watch one of her soap operas, or one of his brothers had locked him out because he, the brother, had had a girlfriend inside and John wouldn’t leave them be.

  Then, of course, there was the whole old fogey factor. Whenever he got a call from anyone over sixty with a front porch, it was more than likely that that’s where he’d find them. Weather permitting. It was also the reason why so many of them got into trouble, or earned a reputation for being nosy. You had a bird’seye view of the world sitting out here. But sitting next to Darby on the front porch of her hundred-year-old farmhouse, his stomach full of the wonderful dinner she’d made, the girls chasing the dandelion fluff that floated on the light breeze as the sun set behind them, made him feel…well, damn good. A state that was especially notable since neither he nor his men had had any luck recapturing the escaped prisoners.

  It had been more than thirty-six hours since their escape and still not a single lead. No truck drivers had come forward with stories of any strange hitchhikers. No unusual sightings. No sign of them at all, either together or apart. It was as if they’d knocked Ed over the head, taken his gun and simply disappeared. Which didn’t make the U.S. Marshal’s Service happy with John or his office. And that was saying nothing about what the blow had done to his ego.

  That is, until he pulled into the gravel drive leading to Darby’s house and felt all of that melt away. Darby standing in the doorway waiting for him erased all the bad and filled him with nothing but good.

  He snaked his hand along the back of the swing, brushing Darby’s shoulders.

  Maybe he’d have to give his whole theory on marriage and parenthood a fresh review. While he and the twins still had a way to go before they made it through the rough patch they were in, he was confident that they would. And just knowing Darby was here, waiting for him to come home, well, definitely had its benefits. Even if he hadn’t found a way to sneak into her bed for good. Yet.

  He curved a hand around her shoulder and she smiled at him. “You know, you haven’t even taken me out on a proper date yet.”

  John’s eyes widened, and he wondered if he’d jumped to conclusions about the benefits of porch sitting. “Pardon me?”

  Darby snuggled closer to his side. “I don’t know. I was just thinking about how…secret everything has been between us.”

  He gazed down at her, the setting sun kissing her brown curls with touches of auburn. “Darby, everyone knows I’m living out here now. They don’t know the details, but they know that much. And as for the baby…”

  She waved her hand. “I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about us.” She rubbed her cheek against his denim shirtfront. “You aren’t ashamed of me, are you, John?”

  “What?” he fairly croaked.

  Now where in hell would she get an idea like that?

  She shrugged, then tucked her legs under her. “Do you realize we’ve never actually been out? You know, on a date date.”

  He grimaced. “Are you talking about dinner? A movie? That kind of thing?”

  She nodded. “Yes. Exactly that kind of thing.”

  He stroked her cheek with his other hand. “If you want to go out, all you have to do is ask, Darby.”

  She laughed and smacked at his hand. “That’s not what I mean and you know it.” She straightened and he was forced to move his hand to the swing back where it had started out. “I mean this whole…courtship thing has been a little backward.”

  “Courtship?”

  “Yes, courtship. I mean, it’s supposed to work the other way. First the guy asks a girl for a date. Then they go out on another. Then maybe by the third or the fourth date, maybe they kiss.”

  “By then she had better be doing a whole lot more than kissing,” he grumbled.

  She swatted at him again and he ducked. “Will you stop? You know what I mean.”

  He leaned back and crossed his feet at the ankles. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” He ran his hands through his hair. “There was a time when I felt everything was moving a little too fast myself.”

  “But you don’t feel that way now?”

  He shook his head and grinned. “No.”

  She made a face and sat back again. He automatically put his hand back where he felt it belonged and started kneading her shoulder.

  “Do you really think I’m ashamed of you?” he asked quietly, the possibility bothering him.

  “No. It’s just…I don’t know. Maybe doing things normal couples do will help me feel somehow more…”

  “Normal?”

  She laughed. “Sounds stupid, doesn’t it?”

  He shook his head. “Not at all.” He glanced at the girls. They had abandoned the dandelion fluff and were now chasing the goat around the yard. “So when can you get a sitter for the night?” he asked. “For the whole night?”

  He watched a light blush creep over her smooth cheeks, then she looked away.

  “That’s not being normal,” she whispered.

  He rubbed his hand up and down her back, absorbing her shiver. “Normal is what we make it, Darby.” He leaned toward her and nibbled on the tip of her ear just as he’d learned she liked it. “So what do you say?”

  “Is tomorrow soon enough?” she asked.

  He felt her hot body next to his and was filled with the urge to tug her into his lap. “I was hoping you’d say tonight.”

  She licked her lips, a combination nervous/hungry move that made him want to kiss away her fears. “You know, you haven’t asked me to marry you yet tonight,” she said quietly.

  He grinned, his gaze flicking over her face. “That’s because I’m still waiting for an answer from this morning.”

  She turned back to face the girls, her smile decidedly mischievous, her body language undeniably sexy. And John wanted her more in that one minute than he’d ever wanted her before.

  The only problem was, he didn’t think he was going to have her. At least not tonight, anyway.

  John’s parents’ house was not exactly what Darby had in mind when she suggested she and John go out, but it was what she got the following night. As John pulled up to the neat, two-story structure a couple of blocks from downtown Old Orchard on a picturesque, tree-lined street, she suddenly felt nauseous.

  Sure, she knew the Sparks family. It was difficult not to, what with eight kids terrorizing the town. But she’d never been to their house before. And she’d never actually met Walter and Edith Sparks, John’s parents.

  John turned off the ignition and stared at the quiet house along with her. “They’re probably all peeking through the sheers at us.”

  “All?” she practically croaked.

  He grimaced and nodded toward the cars in the driveway and lining the street. “I think every last one of my brothers and sisters is here. Except for Julie. She lives in Chicago. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if Mom had her flown in especially for the occasion.”

  Darby stared at him in shock. There hadn’t been that many people at her graduation. “How long have you had this planned?”

  “A whole two hours.” He rubbed his face with both hands, revealing his own anxiety. “Mom called earlier, said if I didn’t bring you by for dinner tonight, she and my sisters were going to pay you a visit tomorrow.” He shrugged so helplessly that Darby almost smiled. “I figured this way I could at least run interference.”

  She nodded. It was well-known that the Sparks family was very reactionary. Something happened, they were the first on the scene. She
supposed it went hand in hand with being accustomed to dealing with crises. You didn’t have a family that big without knowing how to handle whatever came your way.

  She noticed she had a death grip on the door handle and forced herself to release it. “What…what have you told them? You know, about us?”

  “Nothing.”

  She lifted her brows.

  “Nothing they didn’t already know from the grapevine. I just did a lot of nodding when I dropped by a couple of days after you told me about the baby.” He turned so that he was facing her. “Look, Darby, if you don’t want to do this, I understand. Hell, I’d prefer a nice night out at Manny’s Steakhouse down on Main to this myself, but I was railroaded into it. Say the word, though, and I’ll pull away from this curb and head to Manny’s.”

  She stared into his honest hazel eyes and knew he would do just that. She glanced back at the house and saw one of the sheers covering the windows flutter. If they left now, she wondered if she’d ever be able to live it down. She absently rubbed her belly. These people were to be her child’s extended family. Loving aunts and uncles. Doting grandparents. Certainly she couldn’t deny them or her child that.

  She pulled in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before releasing it. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  “Are you…”

  But Darby was already halfway out of the car. She figured if she didn’t take the initiative, they’d likely sit in the Jeep all night watching the sheers flutter. She closed the car door and straightened her skirt, trying to guess what she was in for and failing miserably. As an only child, she was frightfully uneducated about large families. And she was afraid she was going to be given a crash course.

  “Uncle Sparky!” Four kids barreled from the front of the house and made a beeline for John. She thought of the twins; they were at her mother’s house and she was glad that at least she didn’t have them to worry about. All she needed was Lindy or Erin proclaiming, in front of John’s family, that their daddy was coming back. No, she had enough to cope with as it was.