Flashback

by Gayle Wilson

  “Most of what I’ve heard had to do with your military record. You served our country honorably.” She took a breath, deep enough to be visible. “And you paid a price.”

  “Some people might dispute that.”

  She shook her head. “Dispute what?”

  “Honorably can be subjective.”

  “Are you saying that you did things you regret?”

  He thought about it before he answered. When he had, he told her the absolute truth. “No.”

  “Then…?”

  “I did things others might regard as outside the boundaries of conventional warfare,” he said carefully.

  There was a long heartbeat before she asked, “What does that mean? Exactly.”

  “The unit I belonged to frequently operated outside the lines. We were assigned missions that nobody was ever going to write up in glowing terms for the newspapers. Things that had to be done, but that nobody wanted to take responsibility for doing.”

  “You did them.”

  “For most of my career.”

  “Against orders?”

  “Our orders were fluid. We did what the situation called for. In our best judgment.”

  The silence this time went on longer than he wanted, despite how much he dreaded her next question. When it came, it was nothing he expected.

  “Is that what you did tonight? What the situation called for?”

  “I brought Raine home. In my best judgment, that outweighed every other consideration.”

  “You thought I’d second-guess that?”

  “I don’t want what I did to discredit you or the department.”

  “And Blake went along with what you did?”

  “He protested that I was violating the prisoner’s rights.”

  Her lips lifted slightly at the corners, but she quickly controlled the movement. “Then I think the department’s covered. Jake, I don’t care what you did to get Porter to talk. Whatever it was, it wasn’t nearly what the bastard deserved.”

  “His lawyer will care.”

  “Then we’ll deal with that. When and if it happens. In all honesty, I don’t think anything will come of this. Blake didn’t even mention it to me. And believe me, if it ever comes to trial, no jury here is going to convict you, no matter what you had to do to find Raine. Most of those people out there—” she turned to look through the windshield “—would applaud you. Personally, I think we’re all lucky you were the one in position to convince him.”

  He laughed, part relief and part genuine amusement at her assessment. Then he touched the bruise on her temple again. “It wasn’t enough.”

  “Actually, I think this is the least of it.” She put her fingers over his. “Invading my home. Taunting me…”

  The scenario she was describing was one he’d had a problem with all along. He still couldn’t see Porter taking chances like that.

  “You sure he did those things?”

  Her eyes widened again, this time in confusion. “Who else could it have been?”

  “You think Porter had something to do with your sister’s kidnapping? How old would he have been at that time?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know how old he is now, but…” She shook her head again. “Nothing else makes sense.”

  “It didn’t from the beginning. I can buy Porter’s attack on me. Whether anybody else believed what I was saying about where Raine was being held, he knew that what I saw was too close to reality to ignore. He had to shut me up. I think he was hoping for more help from the crowd than he got that day, but the other…? Either Porter was involved with your sister’s disappearance, or he did a hell of a job researching something you say nobody here knew anything about.”

  “But…if it wasn’t Porter, then who? And more important, why?”

  “I can’t answer that. With Porter in custody, we may never know.”

  “You don’t believe there will be any more incidents.”

  That hadn’t been phrased as a question, but he treated it as one. “I think, for one thing, it would be too dangerous to continue with the kidnapper behind bars. For another, what would be the purpose?”

  “I’m not sure I understood the purpose before.”

  “I think you were right. Whoever this was intended to interfere in the investigation.”

  “Thanks to you, he didn’t succeed.”

  “But that’s what he was hoping for.”

  “To protect Porter? You think somebody else was in on this with him?”

  “I don’t know. Is there someone in town who’s particularly close to him?”

  Her eyes changed. She opened her mouth and then closed it. “I can’t believe he’d be involved in something like that.”

  “Maybe he didn’t understand the significance of what he was doing. Maybe he thought of it as a prank. Or maybe he was so under Porter’s thumb, he never questioned whatever he told him to do.”

  When Eden didn’t respond, he added the caveat he himself had just realized. “That doesn’t explain, however, how Porter knew about your sister.”

  “You’re the one who said the information was out there. That everything’s on the web.”

  “It is. But you have to know how and where to look for it.”

  Her eyes met his. “Not if you have access to the official databases that contain all the details about cold cases.”

  THE POLICE STATION had been virtually deserted when they left. Now it was filled with people, despite the fact that at least half the small force was still working the two crime scenes.

  Without a word, Eden motioned for the kid at the front desk to follow them back to her office. After a moment’s hesitation, he complied.

  “Close the door,” she ordered as he entered.

  He glanced at Jake before he obeyed. With the noise from the front room muted, Eden let the tension build a moment.

  The kid clearly knew that he was here because of his association with Porter. What else he knew was still in question.

  “If I’d had any idea what kind of guy—” he began.

  “You been in my house lately, Carl?”

  Something that looked like genuine confusion appeared in the boy’s eyes. “Ma’am?”

  “Have you been in my house? You know, broken into it?”

  He glanced at Jake again, as if to ask whether or not this was some kind of joke. When Jake kept his face expressionless, Carl looked back at Eden.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been in your house, Chief. And I damn sure haven’t broken in. There or anywhere else.”

  The deputy’s face had flushed with what Jake would bet was genuine indignation. It was obvious Carl was struggling for control.

  “Maybe trying to help your friend out a little? Generate a minor distraction in the middle of an investigation?”

  “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, Chief. Dave was good to me. I consider—considered,” he amended, “him a friend. But I never tried to help him with what he did to that little girl. I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t have anything to do with hurting a child.”

  “How about just playing a few tricks on your boss? Everybody’s wanted to do that at times.”

  “No, ma’am. I don’t have any reason to do something like that. I like you. I like working here. Why would I do something that stupid?”

  “I don’t know. All I know is that somebody did. And that you’ve acknowledged you were close to Porter.”

  “I’m not the only person in this town who thought of Dave as a friend.”

  “No, but you’re one of the few with access to this office.”

  The kid’s brow furrowed. “You think I gave him information about the investigation?” He shook his head. “You’ve known me all of my life, Chief. You know my mama and daddy. You really think I’d do something to help a man who—” he paused, seeming to search for terminology “—who does that to little girls?”

  Several seconds ticked by as the boy’s question went unanswered. “I want you to go
on home,” Eden said finally. “Go home and stay there. Don’t talk to anybody. That’s an order, Carl. You understand me?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The kid’s face was tight with indignation, but he worked manfully for control. “Is that all?”

  “For now.” The boy turned on his heel and had made it to the door before Eden spoke again. “If I’m wrong, Carl, then I’m sorry. There are just…” This time she was the one who searched for words. “A lot of things have been happening around here that I have no explanation for.”

  Carl nodded, his eyes holding hers. “I understand that, but you ought to know me well enough to know that whatever the explanation is, I’m not it.”

  With that he was gone, closing the door carefully behind him so that his outrage wouldn’t be apparent, other than in his heartfelt self-defense.

  Eden turned to Jake. “What do you think?”

  “I don’t think he had a clue what you were talking about.”

  She took a breath. “We need to check the computer out front to make sure. I’m not good enough to do much beyond pulling up the search history, but the boys from Jackson should be able to verify if he was telling the truth. And honestly, for his mama’s and daddy’s sake, if for no other reason, I hope to God he was.”

  Jake nodded, reading exhaustion in her face. This was something that could wait. Whoever had been behind the scare tactics concerning her sister’s kidnapping would have no reason now to continue them.

  And if they were foolish enough to try, they were going to have him to contend with. Because there was no way he was going to leave her alone again.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Almost too exhausted to think, and vastly relieved that for the first time in almost a week she didn’t have to, Eden hadn’t been aware of where they were going until Jake turned onto her street. She didn’t want to go home, she realized. Not given the things that had happened there and the fact that the prankster apparently still had access to the house.

  “Not here.”

  Jake turned to look at her. Even in the darkness she could read the question in his eyes.

  “I can’t sleep there.”

  She leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. She didn’t care where they spent the night. As long as they were together.

  She sat up when the cruiser slowed again to find him turning into the long drive that led to his grandmother’s house. He pulled the patrol car around to the back and then killed the engine.

  After a moment the headlights went out, leaving them once more alone in a sheltering darkness. Gradually, in the stillness, the night creatures resumed their nighttime serenade.

  “Your grandmother would be scandalized,” she said.

  “You can sleep in her room.”

  Jake got out, leaving her to think about what he’d said as he walked around the front of the car. He opened her door, holding out his hand.

  As she took it, she asked. “And what if I don’t want to sleep in Miz Etta’s room?”

  The only answer was the slight tremor in the long brown fingers that closed around hers. But he didn’t release her hand until they’d reached the front door.

  When he’d unlocked it, Jake’s palm settled against the small of her back to usher her inside. With the intimacy of that gesture, something happened deep within her body. A heated anticipation that made her heart rate accelerate and her breathing quicken.

  Jake seemed not to notice. Or maybe, she conceded, he was accustomed to having that effect on women. After all, he was bound to be more experienced at this than she was.

  When he’d closed the door and turned the dead bolt, he led the way through the house. A light burned somewhere in the back, but the front rooms were dark.

  As her eyes adjusted, Eden contrasted the almost pristine condition of the place where he lived with the one they’d broken into tonight. And then, unwilling to allow any of those images into her brain, she banished that comparison.

  What had happened at Porter’s was something she would think about tomorrow. Tonight…

  “You think Miz Etta’s got a nightgown I could borrow?”

  Jake’s eyes were silver as he turned to look at her, his face as expressionless as it had been while she’d questioned Carl. “All her things are still in her room. I’m sure you can find something. Second door on the right.” He tilted his head down the hall.

  The light she’d noticed before was coming from the room on the left. Jake’s bedroom? If so, it seemed he really did intend for them to occupy separate beds, despite her earlier attempt to suggest something else.

  A suggestion he hadn’t responded to, she reminded herself. “Thanks.”

  Humiliated, she began to move past him. His hand fastened around her upper arm, stopping her progress.

  “We talked about baggage. Just not all of it.”

  “Something else in your sordid past I need to know about?” She smiled at him, just in case he might not realize she was teasing.

  “Something in my present.” He took her hand, placing it against the side of his head, just above the temple.

  When she felt the depression in the bone, her first impulse was to pull her fingers away. Thankfully, she was able to control that reaction.

  “The effects of this aren’t ever going away, Eden. Not entirely.”

  “The flashbacks?”

  “Those. The impulsivity, whatever the hell that means. Anger issues.” He took a breath, deep enough to be visible. “The physical stuff.”

  She wasn’t sure what he wanted her to say. To be honest, she wasn’t sure how she felt about some of the things he’d mentioned.

  The only thing she was sure of was how she felt about him. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It may.”

  “At some point in the future? I guess it might. I would think you, of all people, know that we can’t predict what might happen. I could never have predicted my sister’s kidnapping. Or my mother’s reaction to it. Even my father’s.

  “The Nolans could never have dreamed their lives would be turned upside down in a single night. Or that a man who had visions of their daughter would rescue her. Life doesn’t come with guarantees, Jake, so if a guarantee is what you’re looking for from me—”

  He put both hands on her shoulders, pulling her upward so he could close her mouth with his. This kiss was nothing like the one in the car. Now his lips possessed hers almost ruthlessly. And when he was done, leaving her limp with need and desire, he raised his head to look down into her eyes. “You through?”

  “With what?”

  “Talking.”

  She nodded, reading the promise in his face.

  “Good.” He bent to slip his arm under her knees, picking her up as if she weighed no more than the child he’d carried across the clearing.

  Remembering that scene, she, too, put her arms around his neck and her head against his shoulder, trusting herself to him completely.

  EDEN CAME AWAKE gradually, a luxury she hadn’t enjoyed in a long time. Late-morning sunlight filtered into the room, but the angle of it was wrong. Unfamiliar.

  With that realization the memories of last night invaded her consciousness. The horror at Porter’s compound. Raine’s homecoming. Jake.

  Jake.

  She turned her head, made aware by that movement of the muscled arm it rested against, and found herself face-to-face with the man who’d made love to her last night with a tenderness she had never expected. And would always cherish.

  His eyes held hers before they deliberately refocused on her mouth. Remembering, as she knew he was, she smiled at him.

  “I should have shaved.” His thumb moved back and forth across her beard-burned chin.

  “It’s okay.”

  “Such soft skin.” His thumb traced slowly down her throat. At the bottom of his hand’s descent, the tips of his extended fingers brushed her breast, as if by accident.

  Her nipple hardened in response. Physical memory? If so, it was even stronger tha
n those embedded in her brain.

  In how many ways had he touched her throughout the night? Teasing. Tantalizing. Teaching.

  His fingers continued their seemingly aimless exploration, but she knew better. There was no doubt in her mind about what was about to happen.

  Her mouth opened, breath sighing out in anticipation of what he would make her feel. He slipped his arm from under her head, turning to prop himself on his elbow in order to look down on her.

  With his left hand he cupped her breast, lowering his head to run his tongue lazily around the areola. Again her nipple tightened, begging for his attention.

  Jake complied, rimming the sensitive nub with moisture before his teeth closed gently over it. With that pressure, a surge of heat exploded deep within Eden’s body.

  Jake responded to her gasp by deserting her breast to trail featherlight kisses down her stomach. The small indentation of her belly button slowed his progress, seeming to demand a prolonged concentration.

  And all the while, she knew his true intent. Anticipated it. Wanted it now with a desperation she had not known she could experience until he had made love to her.

  Finally—finally—his lips slipped lower still. Her fingers locked into the coarseness of his hair as his tongue again began the assault she had resisted last night and now welcomed.

  Its movements were delicate at first. And then, as with his kiss, it became demanding.

  Sensation upon sensation shivered along nerve endings supplied by a generous nature for such an onslaught. The longer he touched her, the more urgently they reverberated. Controlling. Engulfing her, so that every particle of her being centered on one objective.

  Her breathing grew ragged. Her fingers found the corded muscle of his shoulder, echoing the pressure building inside her straining body.

  And when, after an eternity, it released, the wave of feeling was so intense it threatened to overwhelm her. To separate her consciousness from this. From him.

  Jake didn’t allow that to happen. As soon as he felt the tremor that signaled the culmination of what he had given her, he moved above her, his mouth closing over her parted lips.