“It’s right here.” Beth propped herself on one elbow and reached for the wallet that he’d tossed on the bedside table after taking the condom out.
“Would you get the number for me?” He picked up the receiver of the phone next to him. “It’s tucked in behind the bills.”
Beth opened the wallet and found the slip of paper. As she passed it across to him she noticed a name scribbled on it. She didn’t have much time to read the name, but it looked like Cindy. Cindy had been their waitress at Café Roca two nights ago. She rejected the thought that flashed immediately into her mind—Cindy was a backup in case she hadn’t worked out. But the woman in her still had to have her curiosity satisfied. She’d ask him about Cindy later.
As she lay listening to him talk to the nurse on duty, his quiet tone of voice didn’t change, so apparently Ernie’s condition remained stable. Thank God for that.
“Oh, did she?” Mike said, becoming more alert. He paused. “Yes, I’m glad you filled her in.”
A chill passed through Beth as she realized Alana must have called the hospital. It made sense that she’d do that if she got no answer at Beth’s apartment.
“I see,” Mike said. “Okay, we’ll take our time, then. Thanks for the information.” He hung up and turned back to Beth. “Dad’s condition has been upgraded and keeps improving.”
“I’m glad.”
“They’re going to be doing some tests for the next couple of hours, so we might as well wait before we go in. We couldn’t see him, anyway.”
“Okay.”
“And Alana called the hospital.”
She let out a breath. “I thought so from what you said on the phone.”
“She happened to call when one of Dad’s doctors was around.” His gaze searched hers. “And I guess the doctor filled her in but told her not to worry, that Ernie’s son was here taking care of things.”
Beth met his gaze. “I see.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s not all the news. I can tell.”
He gave her a crooked smile. “It’s spooky being around somebody who can read me that well. I’ve gone years without people being able to do that.”
“Habit.”
“It’s kind of nice, in a weird sort of way,” he said.
“You’re stalling. What’s the rest of the news?”
He ran a hand over the stubble on his chin. “Alana left us a message. She’s cutting her trip short and coming home.”
Beth absorbed the information but felt no surprise. “I told you she would.”
“It might be Ernie’s condition bringing her back instead of me.”
“I’m sure the doctor told her Ernie’s doing just fine and the worst is over. No, it’s because you’re here, Mike. She’s coming back to see you.”
“Could be,” he admitted.
“So now it starts.”
“Not immediately.” He stretched out beside her again. “She can’t just abandon that family in the Ozarks. It’ll take at least twenty-four hours, in my estimation.”
“We’ll have to tell her about us, won’t we?”
He traced the line of her lower lip with one finger. “Of course we will.”
“I don’t know what I’ll say to her.”
“Don’t think you’ll be out there all by yourself.” He moved closer and touched his lips to hers. “I’ll be there to help.”
“We can’t make it seem like two against one. That’s no fair.”
Mike chuckled. “If that isn’t a remark straight out of our childhood, I don’t know what is.”
“I’ve been thinking about my childhood a lot recently, Mike. Alana always took care of me and made sure I didn’t get hurt. Now I’m the one who’s hurting her. She doesn’t deserve it.”
He drew back to study her. “And what do we deserve?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Picture this.” He slipped an arm around her waist and drew her closer. “An aggressive little girl meets a little boy and immediately decides that he’s the one for her.”
As she nestled against him and took comfort from his solid length; her anxiety eased. “I know this story.”
“Humor me and pay attention, anyway. As she grows up, this girl conditions everybody, including the boy, to think this partnership is their destiny. Her little sister idolizes her, so no problem there. And the boy is flattered that somebody so popular and attractive has picked him out. Sometimes he thinks he likes the little sister better, but saying so would cause a lot of problems, and everything is so damned nice the way it is.”
“You make Alana sound like some sort of tyrant.”
“I don’t mean to. I did have a crush on her for a while, and I didn’t question myself about whether or not that crush had developed into something that would last a lifetime. Hell, I couldn’t imagine myself bucking the lot of you, anyway—Ernie, Pete and my sweet little Beth.” He caressed her bare bottom. “And you’re sweeter than I ever knew.”
“Believe me, I don’t feel very sweet right now.”
“Oh, yes, you do.” He slid a hand up her rib cage and cradled the weight of her breast. “Sugar and spice and everything nice.”
She grew damp and warm as his thumb brushed her nipple. “You’d better stop that. Unless you’re more prepared than I thought, we’re out of birth control.”
He continued to caress her. “Sad but true. There was but one lonely condom in my wallet.”
Although her thinking was growing fuzzy, she was still alert enough to remember that his wallet had also contained the slip of paper she’d seen a few minutes ago. “And why are you carrying Cindy’s name in your wallet, by the way?”
He grinned at her. “Jealous, sweet Beth?”
“Of course not. She’s a child. I just—”
“Not such a child.” As he leaned down and flicked his tongue across her nipple, the jaguar tooth tickled her breast. “Nearly the same age you were when I first kissed you.”
“I was a child then.”
“The hell you were.” He swirled his tongue over the sensitive areola.
She shuddered in reaction. “I was clueless.”
“Then your instincts were incredible. When I kissed you, you rubbed your hips against me until I was hard as a rock.”
She pushed him away. “Did not!”
“Did, too.” He laughed as he drew her back toward him. “I was ready to throw you down on the grass that minute, but then Dad called from the back door, and that was the end of that. After you went inside, I had to’ hide out in the bushes for five minutes before my erection disappeared. And don’t pretend you didn’t know. You must have felt it through that thin silk.”
Heat climbed into her cheeks.
“Aha. Just as I thought. You knew exactly how you were affecting me. You and that sexy little red dress. Clueless, my ass.”
“I still have that dress.”
“Yeah?” He kneaded his way up her backbone. “I suppose you’ve worn it a lot since then.”
“Nope. Never wore it again.”
He brushed her hair back from her face. “Wear it for me tonight.”
She hadn’t thought past the moment. “Tonight?”
“Let me slide that dress from your shoulders, the way I’ve been dreaming of for eight years.” He feathered kisses over her cheeks. “I want to see it fall to the floor, and watch you step out of it. Then I want to make love to you all night.”
She closed her eyes as desire took hold of her. “I don’t know if we dare. Alana—”
“Alana won’t be home that soon, but we’ll spend the night at my house, just in case. Give me this, Beth.”
She opened her eyes and gazed at him. “All right. We’ll at least have that.”
“Thank you,” he murmured, kissing her. “Oh, and one more thing,” he whispered against her mouth, “I want that piece of stained glass.”
“It’s not for sale.”
He outlined her lips with his tongue. “Then I guess you’ll
have to give it to me.”
She snuggled closer and felt the press of his erection against her belly. “You don’t want it. You can’t cart it through the jungle with you.”
“That would be my problem.” He took her hand and guided it down to rest on his hardened shaft. “But I want it. You made it for me, and I want it.”
She closed her fingers around him. “I didn’t make it for you.”
“Yes, you did.” He moaned softly as she stroked him. “You wanted to tell me...”
“Tell you what?” she asked, her voice seductively low.
“This.” He covered her mouth with his and reached down between her thighs.
As his fingers probed her moist sheath, the spring only he could release began to tighten again. She matched his rhythm, massaging him until he began to tremble and groan against her mouth.
He lifted his lips from hers. “Ah, Beth. How I want you.”
“You have me.”
“I want more. I want to bury myself inside you and say to hell with condoms.”
“No, Mike.” She gasped as he pushed in deeper. “You don’t want to be...tied down.”
“Maybe it’s all I’ve ever wanted.” His breathing grew ragged.
“I won’t let you...” She lost the rest of what she might have said as the tremors took her.
“We’ve wasted...so much!” With an exasperated cry, he erupted in a warm cascade that spilled over her fingers.
BETH AND MIKE returned to the hospital in the late afternoon. Mike insisted they stop for some fast food and eat it on the way. As they walked down the corridor to Ernie’s room, Beth looked down at the rumpled clothes she’d been forced to put on after her shower in the hotel room. “Ugh.”
Mike smiled at her concern with appearances when all he had to do was glance at her to become aroused again. He pulled her close and whispered in her ear. “You’re beautiful.”
“Oh, sure.”
He pulled them both to a halt and turned her toward him. “The most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.”
She searched his expression, and her doubtful look indicated she was having a hard time swallowing that statement
“I suppose you think I’m feeding you a typical meaningless seduction line,” he said.
“Under certain circumstances it could qualify.”
He glanced around at the hospital atmosphere that surrounded them. “I don’t think these are exactly the circumstances.” He released her and sighed in exasperation. “Your lack of trust is getting to me, especially because I don’t think I’ve done anything to earn it. Can you give me a single instance when I’ve lied to you?”
“Other than telling me there were crocodiles in the drainage ditches?”
“That was make-believe and you knew it. I mean about serious stuff.”
“I hope you haven’t, Mike.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “Meaning?”
“I’m choosing to believe your story over Alana’s. If I ever find out that it’s not true—”
“It’s true, even though I understand why you wouldn’t want to believe it.”
“On the contrary. Believing you is the only way I can live with myself. So you’d better be telling me the truth.”
“I am. Now let’s go see how that ornery old guy is doing.” He took her hand as they continued down toward Ernie’s room. So she trusted him for now, he thought as he walked beside her down the hallway. He wondered if she would still trust him when Alana came home and called him a liar. Because unless Alana had changed, that’s exactly what she’d do.
Mike braced himself to see a sicker-looking version of his father as they walked into his room. Fortunately Ernie was awake with his bed rolled partway up. Although his color still wasn’t great, he didn’t look nearly as pale as he had the night before.
He managed a smile. “Well, look who’s here. You two decide to knock off work and drive up together?”
Mike realized his father might not remember they’d both been there the night before. “Something like that,” he said. “You gave us a scare, Dad.”
“So they tell me.” His attention turned to Beth. “You’re shinin’ like a new penny. Suits you.”
Mike glanced at Beth to see how she was taking that.
Sure enough, she was blushing. “I’m just happy you came through this thing okay,” she said.
“That’s flatterin’ but I don’t think an old geezer like me is what put such a bloom on you.”
Her blush deepened. “I—”
“Never mind. Come give me a peck on the cheek and then let me talk to Mike alone for a bit.”
Beth followed Ernie’s instructions. “Get better,” she said as she kissed him. Then she walked past Mike on her way out of the room. Her glance told him clearly that she didn’t want him giving Ernie any details of their recent encounter.
He shook his head slightly to let her know he wouldn’t.
“I’ll just be down the hall, schmoozing with the nurses,” she said as she left the room.
“Come here, Mike,” Ernie said when she was gone. Mike felt almost like a kid again as he responded to his father’s summons. He pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down. “I’m here, Dad.”
“Something’s happenin’ between you two, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Serious?”
“Yeah.”
“Alana’s comin” home.”
Mike nodded. “I know.”
“I wanna know if you’re gonna be able to handle this.”
Mike gazed into his father’s eyes, dark with unexpressed physical pain. “I’ll handle it, Dad. I screwed it up eight years ago, but I’ll handle it this time.”
“Good.” His father closed his eyes.
Mike touched Ernie’s arm. His skin was alarmingly dry and papery. “Want me to call the nurse?”
“No. I’m okay.” Ernie opened his eyes. “Damned nuisance. I need to be there in case things go bad.”
“I won’t let them go bad.”
“Pete said he might be able to be there, but I don’t know if he can.”
Mike started to panic. His father was hallucinating. “Let me get a nurse, Dad.”
His eyes flew open. “No!” Then a faint smile touched his lips. “Oh, I see what you’re worried about. That business about Pete wanting to be there.”
“Pete’s gone, Dad.”
“Not quite, he ain’t.”
“Dad—”
“Listen, Mike. I’m gonna tell you this, but you gotta promise you won’t tell none of the people in this hospital.”
“Dad, I can’t promise that. Too much is at stake, here.”
“Then I ain’t telling you.”
Mike glared at him and soon decided it was better that somebody hear this confession, whatever it was. “Okay, I promise.”
“First of all, I ain’t crazy. Second of all, when I had the heart attack, I met Pete on the other side. Since then he’s been talkin’ to me.”
“Dad,” Mike said gently, “certain drugs can make you think that—”
“It ain’t the drugs. But never mind. The point I wanna make is that Pete and me always knew you and Beth should be together. See, Alana needs lots of people around her, but you and Beth, you’re more the solitary type. Your personalities just fit, y’know? So Pete and me, we’re pulling for you two to work it out.”
“Oh, boy.” Mike slumped back in the chair and stared at the ceiling. First his father admitted he was talking to the dead, and now he claimed to have known all along what Mike was just finding out. “How come you never said that you thought Beth was the one for me instead of Alana?”
“Ha. I hope you have a kid someday and he’s a know-it-all just like you. Back then I couldn’t tell you the sky was blue, let alone you’d picked the wrong Nightingale girl. But maybe you’ve growed up enough to fix it. Beth’s the one you need to marry.”
Mike sat forward in the chair again. “Wait a minute, Dad. I never said a thing abou
t marrying Beth. Sure, we get along great, but I don’t know if I’m cut out for marriage. And Beth wants to stay in Bisbee, don’t forget. I’m not planning to give up my trips to South America, so I don’t know if—”
“Yammer, yammer, yammer. You should listen to yourself. When you love a woman, you make adjustments. She makes adjustments. Life’s too short not to.”
When you love a woman. His father was forcing him to acknowledge what he’d been unwilling to admit to himself, even after all the years of fantasizing, even after the glory of what he’d shared with Beth only hours ago. He’d been unwilling to admit to an emotion so strong because then his life would truly change forever.
“Cat got your tongue?” his father asked, his voice faint.
Mike realized his father had closed his eyes again and was looking very tired. “I was just thinking about what you said,” he said. “Listen. I should go so you can get some rest.”
“I could use a nap, I guess.”
“Then you do that.” Mike stood. As he leaned down to press his lips against his father’s forehead, the jaguar tooth necklace shifted beneath his shirt. He straightened and pulled the leather cord over his head. “I need you to hang onto this for me, Dad,” he said. He half expected an argument as he lifted his father’s head from the pillow and slipped on the necklace.
Ernie just looked at him. “I can see you’re bound I should have this thing around my neck.”
“Humor me.”
“Guess I hafta. Judy’ll get a real charge out of this here tooth.”
“Everything’s gonna be okay, Dad.”
“You bet.”
Mike swallowed. “See you soon, Dad.”
10
CLOUDS BUBBLED like giant soapsuds on the horizon as Mike and Beth headed toward the Time Tunnel in the Mule Mountains. At six in the evening the sun still baked the Arizona desert, and the rental car’s air-conditioning was turned up to high.
Beth took off her sunglasses as they entered the tunnel The closer they got to Bisbee, the more she sensed impending disaster. “She’ll be here soon, Mike. I can feel it.”
The Heartbreaker Page 11