Her eyes, so pretty with their dark, long lashes, gazed at him for a few seconds as she waited for him to take a seat. He found himself remembering how dark blue her eyes got when the two of them had made love. He moved outside and sat down on the swing. She took the wicker chair next to it, angling herself toward him, lifting her feet up onto the cushioned seat and wrapping her arms around them, looking closed in.
It probably wouldn’t, he thought, be a good time to try for that kiss.
“Your brother and I have a favor to ask you.”
“I’m not giving you away if you get hitched. You should have taken me up on it when you had the chance.”
“That’s not funny.” Tessa counted to four—he could hear her—and took a breath. “And that’s when I get hitched.” She frowned and rolled her eyes. “Married.”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t call what you two are planning marriage.” Before she could protest, he asked, “Where is my brother, anyway?”
“He went to work. He said you were going to look after Jeb until he gets home late tonight. He’s over there.” She lifted a red-tipped finger and pointed across the street.
“No problem,” Griff told her.
Tessa wondered whether to debate his earlier statement about her marriage-to-be, then decided Griff would love the chance to argue about it again, and she didn’t want to get him started. “Anyway, Clay said since he didn’t get married today, he can’t take the vacation days he’d planned to this week, or he won’t have them when we do get married.”
Days off work to be with Tessa after the wedding ceremony. That would be called a “honeymoon,” something Griff did not want to think about his brother taking with the woman he’d once loved, even though he was over her.
He was.
“Okay, so what’s the favor?” he asked irritably.
Tessa took a deep breath. “We’d had a bunch of things planned for his time off. Things we were going to do together.”
“Together?” His mouth went dry.
“So he needs to find someone to step in and do everything he promised to. Things I couldn’t do alone, without him.”
Thoughts of what those things could be on their honeymoon week made Griff shift on the swing, suddenly uncomfortably aware that he was physically reacting to the very idea of being alone with Tessa in the days to come. “You’re asking me to step in?”
“Who better?” she asked confidently.
“To spend time with you, that’s what you’re asking me to do?”
“Yes,” Tessa said slowly, not sounding so confident this time. Then she swung her sandaled feet down to the porch floor and sat up, looking him directly in the eyes. “Innocent stuff, Griff.”
“Oh.” He told himself not to feel disappointed. “How innocent can it be if we spend time together without Clay?”
“Very innocent,” she said firmly.
“I’ll bet you that’s not what everyone in town who sees us together will think. And don’t tell me the gossip wouldn’t bother you.” He knew better. Tessa loved this town and everyone in it. And as far as he knew, the townspeople had taken the almost orphaned young girl into their hearts as well—the people here were that good. Their gossip would hurt.
With a tiny shrug of her tanned shoulders, she turned her gaze on the house across the street. “No one will gossip. We’re going to make it known that the only reason we’re together is so that you can make amends for ruining your brother’s wedding by helping him not to renege on his promises.”
“Is that the only reason we’re going to be together, Tessa?” he asked quietly. “You don’t have any ulterior motives, do you?”
“Of course not!” she said, but she blushed. “Remember, you’re the one who stopped the wedding and messed up Clay’s and my lives.”
“I didn’t notice you screaming or trying too hard to stop me when I was carrying you out of the church.”
“Of course I did!” she denied. “I hit you, remember? I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re all black and blue under your shirt.”
“You weren’t hitting that hard. But on the other hand, maybe I should check.” Standing, he started loosening his shirt from his pants.
“Don’t you dare,” she said, standing up and putting her fisted hands on her hips. “I swear, Griff, don’t you take off that shirt with me here, or I’ll do something drastic.”
He grinned and let his hands drop to his sides. “So you are concerned about gossip while you’re alone with me.”
“I am only concerned,” she said slowly, “about the people who won’t get the help they need because you came here and messed up our plans. Now, are you going to step into his place for the next few days, or not?”
With Tessa included, it was an offer, Griff thought, that he could not refuse. Not that he was fixing to get involved with her again, at least not the forever-after kind of involved. No, he would be out of there as soon as he figured out what was going on.
And something definitely was. There was no other reason for Tessa to want to stick this close to him, unless maybe she still had feelings for him. He gazed into her cool eyes. Okay, maybe not. Maybe she was afraid to leave him alone. But why would she be?
The e-mailer, he thought, tucking in his shirt again. She didn’t want him around whoever had e-mailed him, talking to him or her. That had to be the reason. But what was she afraid he would find out? It must have something to do with him, or she wouldn’t be so worried.
But what? If he found out, maybe he would also then know why she and Clay were getting married, and be able to come up with a more convincing reason to keep them from this farce they were about to enter into. But to find out, he would have to get away from Tessa and Clay at some point, so he could be approachable by the mysterious e-mailer. This was going to be some juggling act, because if he were right in his speculations, neither of them were going to let him get away alone for one second.
“Well?” she asked.
“I do owe Clay—” He moved his jaw as though he were still thinking it through, reluctant to say yes. “I guess I can substitute for him. But then I’m out of here.”
Griff knew that Tessa was good at hiding her emotions from a long time of having to when she was a child, to keep her mother from getting depressed. So he was quick enough to see her true reaction to his words—hurt—before a stoic look came over her features. He hated that; he’d hurt her enough already. He reached out to cup her cheek, but she drew back.
“Honey—”
“That’s Tessa to you.” She pointed at him in emphasis. “We might have to stick around each other for a few days, but as far as I’m concerned, we’re just two people who have a past, but no present and no future. Got it?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Tessa.”
“Neither would I,” she replied.
“I guess that means goodbye kisses are out, huh?” he asked.
With a throwing of her hands palm up into the air, total exasperation filled her face. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning at eight o’clock sharp for our first good deed.” Turning, she hurried down the steps.
“Wait—you didn’t tell me where we’re going,” he called out to her. “Or how to dress.”
“Wear an apron.”
“Just an apron?” Now that didn’t sound promis-ing—or very informative—so he couldn’t help but tease her just a little. “No clothes? Won’t I catch a draft?”
She slammed her car door in reply. Well, that probably meant he should wear clothes. Good thing, as he figured the air was going to be really frosty around Tessa tomorrow.
Maybe, he thought, he should get his own plans underway tonight.
At home, her bare feet up on her cushiony sofa, ready for bed in a thigh length T-shirt, Tessa remembered Griff’s parting words and had to smile, even though the situation she was in was serious beyond belief. Just an apron. So typically Griff, even after all these years. She had missed the sexual banter between them, just a little. Clay was al
ways so quiet, had been since his wife had passed on. She knew he missed Lindy—shoot, she did, too—and that she herself would never be a substitute. Sometimes she didn’t even know what to say to Clay, so the times they’d gotten together, she’d concentrated on Jeb, and Clay had mostly watched the two of them interacting.
For the first time, her confidence in her goal of marrying Clay floundered. Was she making a mistake? Was this marriage the best thing for Jeb, as she’d thought ever since Lindy had passed away? As he grew older, would he come to feel the distance between her and Clay, and worry? Or worse, would he think that was how marriage was supposed to be—two people who had trouble talking to each other?
Stop analyzing this, she told herself. It wasn’t like she was the only one who thought this was a good idea. Lindy had wanted it, had made the request of Clay that he get married again as soon as possible so Jeb would always have a mother. Clay had agreed to it. Sadie had even thought it would be best for Jeb to have Tessa there. No one had said “boo” when it was announced. So why was she still worrying?
Because Griff had come back and he didn’t think it was a good idea. That’s all it had taken. Hadn’t she learned after she’d broken her engagement to him to think about what was right, and not about what her emotions dictated?
She was twenty-seven. It was high time she did.
The phone rang, jerking her out of her thoughts. Sadie was usually winding down to sleep at this hour, so she doubted it would be her, and she didn’t want to talk to anyone else.
But it was Clay on the answering machine, and that made her pick up the phone. Clay never called her.
“Sorry to bother you,” he said, sounding exasperated and frustrated, all rolled into one, “but there’s trouble.”
“Is Jeb all right?” Tessa whispered, her heart thumping.
“Not that kind of trouble. The Griff kind. When I volunteered to work tonight, I figured he would just stay home with Jeb. But then I ran into them at the Wal-Mart up here in Homer buying a tent. He’s taking Jeb for ice cream and to hear the band at Casey’s Kitchen. Then—get this—they are going camping.”
“That’s not in our plan!” Friday nights during the summer, Casey stayed open late and had a small, local country and western band play so folks in the area, especially the older ones, could get together in the air conditioning and have fun. The place would be packed. “No telling who he’ll see!”
“That’s why you’ve got to get over there. And just in case this mystery person who wants to tell him our business follows him out to Dad’s pond to talk to him, you’d better bring a sleeping bag. I don’t get off until after midnight, and I’m going to be too tired to babysit Griff.”
Pushing the phone down into its cradle, Tessa ran into her bedroom to dress, muttering things under her breath she hadn’t even heard since she was a kid.
You should just tell him the truth, a warning voice inside her head whispered. But she couldn’t. There was no telling what the ramifications could be. Dang Griff! And dang her own treacherous feelings that had kept her from running down that aisle when she’d still had a chance this morning.
Chapter Four
For the Friday night dancing, Doc Casey had men pile the restaurant tables in a storeroom in the back and put the chairs along the walls. That was where Tessa spotted Griff, seated in one and leaning back, grinning at Jeb, who was line dancing with the adults.
For a few seconds, Tessa watched Griff watching Jeb. Her heart clenched as she thought about what could have been, if only Griff hadn’t been so stubborn. To stop her thoughts from bringing her to tears, she took a deep breath.
She had no desire to sit there and converse with Griff, but she had to keep an eye on whoever might try to, so there was just one solution she could think of at the moment, especially since she didn’t want to pull Jeb away from his fun to make him leave—not yet anyway.
Walking up to Griff, she dropped her purse in his lap. “Keep an eye on this,” she called above the music, and then did some two-stepping that took her over by Jeb. The line opened to make room for her, and she started the heel, toe, heel, twirl quarter-way around, clap movement the others were doing. When she got all the way around again, to the point she was facing Griff, she saw that Jasper from Sadie’s coffee club had settled down in the chair next to him.
Could Jasper be the e-mailer? What were the odds? She continued dancing, since she doubted if anyone would yell over the music to tell something of the magnitude of her and Clay’s secret, but the second the song finished she grabbed Jeb’s hand and tugged him the few feet to Griff.
“So you two are out for a night on the town, eh?” Jasper asked.
“No. The two of them were—” she indicated Griff and Jeb with a nod of her head “—and Clay asked me to come and make sure Jeb got home before Griff kept him up all night. He doesn’t trust his brother much,” Tessa told him, totally aware that Griff’s ink-blue eyes never left her.
“I can see why, after the stunt you pulled today, Griff.” Jasper chuckled at the memory. “So you came home to stop the wedding, eh?”
Griff loosened his gaze from Tessa to look at Jasper. “I came home because of an e-mail—”
Panic, like a tornado, whirled through her. “Griff, I hate to interrupt your social hour, but Jeb is young, and he needs to get to bed.”
“But, Uncle Griff, you said we could go camping!” Jeb’s happy face crumpled. They would be fortunate, Tessa thought, to avoid a full-fledged tantrum, because he was probably exhausted after the long day. She certainly was.
“Okay, camping then. Just let’s go. I’m ready for bed.” Even if that bed was a folded quilt with a sheet over her. She glanced down and saw Jeb’s gleeful look.
“Bed sounds good to me, too,” Griff said, grinning at her.
“Going off camping overnight, hmm? Together?” Jasper cackled with glee, and Tessa groaned softly.
“Separate sleeping bags, Jasper,” Griff clarified.
“Separate tents,” she added stiffly. “That’s if I stay. I’m not sure.”
“Uh-huh,” Jasper said agreeably, rising to go join his friends again.
“Grandma will have a cow when the gossip train reaches her,” Tessa said as Griff lifted Jeb up to carry him.
“You didn’t have to mention bed.” Not expecting her to reply, he moved to drop some money into the band’s bucket, since they played for tips. Seconds later, the three of them were out the door in the parking lot and quiet—except for the crickets, anyway.
“I take it Clay called you?” Griff asked.
“He wanted me to make sure you didn’t spoil Jeb rotten.”
“And that I didn’t get to talk to anyone?”
Her horrified gaze flew up to meet his. “Not now, Griff,” she said, indicating Jeb, who was staring at them both with wide eyes.
She could see his dark eyes probing her in the light from the security lamps on either end of the lot, but he dropped the subject and began walking. Gravel crunched under their feet as they headed toward his truck.
“So you’re really coming with us?” Griff asked. “I don’t mind at all. How about you, Jeb? Do you mind?”
“Naw. As long as we can get goin’ soon.”
Tessa’s breath caught at the look in Griff’s eyes. He wanted her to come camping with him—at his dad’s pond. The very place where she’d made love with Griff, so many years ago now, for the first and last time. The very place where everything in her life had started changing. She’d been fighting going, not wanting to relive the memories.
But she knew she had to. On the way over, she’d reminded herself, over and over, of her basic reason for needing to camp out with them—Jeb. He’d been vulnerable since the loss of his mother and from the looks of things, was drinking in the attention from Griff. She had to come between them a bit to keep Jeb from bonding with him, so the child didn’t suffer another loss when Griff left.
And no matter what her heart was murmuring to her about Griff’s
nearness right now, he was going to leave. Leaving was in his blood. She shouldn’t fool herself. She could get hurt if she let her defenses down.
“Yes, I’m coming.” As if it was ever in doubt.
Griff gave her a genuine smile that spoke of caring, and for one precious second, she connected with him again, right down into her heart. Forcing herself to cut the tie, she looked away as he said, “Good. It’ll be fun.”
Fun? She doubted that.
Minutes after arriving in the camping area near the acre pond about a half mile away from the home he’d grown up in, Griff took out battery-operated lanterns from his truck and checked the ground for red ant piles. It was clear. Next, out came the new tent. A few minutes later, after some muttering under his breath, Griff had erected a zippered shelter. She was impressed. The night they’d been together, it had been on a blanket under the stars.
“That tent is big!” Jeb said. “Big enough for three.”
“Three six-year-olds, maybe,” Tessa said quickly, her whole body tensing up at the thought of sleeping in the same small tent with Griff close enough to touch her, even with Jeb between them.
Griff put his thumbs and forefingers out to make a square that he pretended to look through, first at the tent, then at Jeb, then at her. “Hmm. I dunno. Seems to me we could squeeze you in, Tessa.”
“I’m sleeping in your truck bed.”
Griff looked doubtful. “You’re going to be real uncomfortable back there, what with the mosquitoes and the hard floor.”
“Tessa can have the air mattress. We men have our sleeping bags,” Jeb said with a yawn.
He was so sweet, Tessa couldn’t help but smile, and then she saw that Jeb was grinning up at Griff, and her heart broke. She was supposed to make sure the two of them didn’t get close, and here she was standing there, and Griff was winning Jeb’s heart. That couldn’t be. Griff would only break it when he left them.
“That’s very nice of you,” Tessa told Jeb. “And if you find you can’t sleep because the ground’s too rocky, you’re welcome to join me in the back of the truck.”
Kidnapping His Bride (Silhouette Romance) Page 5