When she turned to look back into the kitchen, Reece had an arrested look on his face, fork halfway to his mouth.
He set the fork down at length. “You sure?”
Lianna kept her clenched fists behind her back where he couldn’t see them. “Of course. Just for tonight. He wants to show you his room. He needs a bath first, and you need to finish your dinner. I’ll come get you in fifteen. There’s ice cream in the freezer.”
With that, she turned on a heel.
And fled.
She was breathing heavily, heart beating in overtime as she reached the door to her private quarters. She had a special lock installed, a security camera fastened to the ceiling that watched the door to see who came and went.
She took precautions to keep herself and her child safe.
And now you’ve invited a stranger into your safe space.
She did some of the breathing exercises Dr. Winston had taught her. Calmed her ragged breathing. They would still be safe. If she couldn’t do this, if she couldn’t run her inn and have the occasional connection to a guest, then they might as well move back to Denver.
She eased into Henry’s room, where he lay, head hanging upside down off his bed, playing with his handheld video game.
“I play even better upside down, Mom.”
“Uh-huh. Time’s up.”
“Let me finish my level.”
“Henry, we’ve talked about—”
“I can’t save until I finish!” he yelled, as he did every night, furiously punching the keys as he raced her inevitable countdown.
“If you want Reece to come tell you his story in your room, the games better be off in five, four, three—”
Henry tossed the device onto his pillow and popped up on his knees. “You’re going to let him come see my map?”
Lianna nodded, ignoring the way her chest clutched in fear.
“Really? Really!” Henry did a little dance.
Lianna blew out a breath. It was the right thing to do. Such a small thing, and it made Henry happy.
Once Reece told his story and left, she would be convinced she was fine, and they could live here forever.
And she’d never let this happen again.
She started Henry’s bath and then left him to it, folding laundry just outside the bathroom so that she could listen for excessive splashing or anything out of the ordinary.
He chattered about Reece, about the map wall and the military and how jealous Joey would be that he’d be hearing real war stories.
Lianna cringed at that, but once she had Henry in his pajamas and ushered him into his room, she told him she’d return with Reece in a few minutes.
A kindness. For Henry. For a lonely man. Being kind to strangers was supposed to be a rewarding experience.
Lord, she was terrified. But Dr. Winston had told her she’d fall into this spiral. He’d warned her against taking on so much responsibility alone. He’d told her she wasn’t ready.
Her hands clenched into fists as she walked back to the kitchen. He’d been wrong. She’d felt it deep in her bones. No matter how scarred she’d been by Todd’s lies and death, she’d been determined to face the challenges head-on. At first for Henry, but then for herself, too.
She stepped into the kitchen, where Reece stood at her sink, drying off the dishes he’d used. He’d washed them, by hand.
It was kind of him to take care of it himself, but it was her job. Her job to attend to. Because she was the innkeeper and he was the guest and things were getting muddied.
But this weekend they’d have more guests and everything would...right itself.
For tonight she would prove to herself she could do a kindness for a stranger and not be punished for it. She forced a smile.
“Henry’s all ready. And possibly too excited to sleep after.”
“Military stories aren’t that exciting,” Reece said, carefully placing the cleaned dishes on the dish towel on the counter.
“Good,” she said emphatically.
He turned, a rare smile flirting with the corners of his mouth. He smiled at Henry a lot, but there was a gravity about Reece in general. A seriousness.
“I’m not sure where to put—”
She waved the dishes away. “Leave them there. I’ll take care of it. You are the guest.” She motioned for him to follow her.
She took him back through the hallway, then to the left, where her personal wing was blocked off from the rest of the house by a door. She pulled her key out of her pocket, watching out of the corner of her eye as Reece glanced at the security camera, at the lock. But he didn’t comment on the precautions. He simply waited patiently.
So she let him into her private rooms and prayed to God she hadn’t just made the biggest mistake of her life.
* * *
LIANNA DIDN’T WASTE TIME. She immediately walked down the narrow hall to the door farthest from the one they’d walked through. She opened the door and motioned Reece inside.
He stepped into a small room that screamed little boy. Action figures and video game posters, sports knickknacks and the faint smell of sweat under the lemon scent that permeated most of the inn. There was a baby monitor receiver on the windowsill—Reece knew Lianna clipped the main device to her belt when she did her early-morning or evening chores so she could hear Henry was safe and sound as he slept in his room. Just like she had the camera outside their private area. Lianna did everything she could to protect her son.
But as he’d mentioned to Shay, these were low-tech options a woman chose to make sure no guests took advantage of her and her son. Not someone trying to do any spying of her own.
Reece glanced up at the ceiling, and in less than five seconds, he saw it. This listening device was in the same place as it had been in his and the other guest rooms. A small unnoticeable sticker on the side of the smoke or carbon monoxide detectors in each room.
That was not from Lianna, and she definitely didn’t know they were there. Someone was listening to her every move.
He didn’t know how to react to that in the moment, so he could only look at Henry, who bounced on his bed in video game–themed pajamas, his blond hair a haphazard, damp mess.
Something inside of Reece’s chest clutched. “Ready for a story?” he asked, his voice rusty as he lowered himself onto the too-small desk chair.
Lianna settled herself on Henry’s bed, leaning against the wall, while Henry wiggled in the middle of the mattress.
He looked at the two of them. Henry a ball of energy, Lianna... He might have called her calm or serene if he couldn’t sense all the tension tightening underneath the surface.
His presence in the room made her nervous, but she was powering through. So he’d tell his story quickly, make it just interesting enough to entertain Henry, and then...
He had no idea how he was going to tell her she was being listened to. That she was still in danger. That he’d been lying to her about who he was. Because he was going to have to—whether Shay gave him the okay or not.
“I was stationed here for a while,” he said, pointing to Afghanistan on Henry’s map wall. “We were trying to...” Reece trailed off. He’d figured he’d throw out some story of something that had happened, not realizing how complicated it was when faced with the excited blue eyes.
“Protect people,” Lianna supplied for him. “That’s the job of the military, right?”
“Right. Right. Protect people.” He wished it had been that simple. So distinctly black-and-white. He liked to think what he did now for North Star was clearer in terms of right and wrong, but the “bad guys” in any situation almost always thought they were the good ones.
“Did you drive a tank?” Henry asked.
“Not so much. It was more foot patrol. Walking around. Talking to people. Finding out who did what wrong and trying to...stop
bad things from happening.”
“Did you shoot people?” Henry asked earnestly, the wriggling slowing. The excitement dimming into something more like captivation. Not just about hurting the bad guys, but about what Reece himself had done.
“There were times we shot back at people shooting at us.” There were no doubt things he’d done to end people’s lives. But how did he explain that to a seven-year-old?
Luckily, Henry just kept right on asking questions. “Was it scary?”
“Very.”
“What did you do when you were scared?”
“I depended on my training, but mostly my team. My fellow soldiers. I knew they had my back and I had theirs. You’re all in it together.”
“Like a family,” Henry said softly.
Reece couldn’t respond right away. His throat got too tight and the pain in his chest was almost unbearable. He stared hard at his shoes.
He had no family, but the army and then North Star had been as close as he’d ever gotten to almost feeling like he had one. “Yeah, I suppose.”
In the end, he told no stories at all, just answered Henry’s endless questions until the boy’s eyes began to droop and Lianna insisted it was bedtime.
“Good night, Henry.”
“Night, Reece. Thanks for the story.” The boy yawned, long and loud. “You’re the best.”
Reece didn’t have anything to say to that, though it was easy to tell Lianna wasn’t pleased as she pulled back the covers and instructed Henry to crawl under them. She whispered a few words to Henry as Reece moved for the door.
He knew he should walk out of the room. Go up to his room to get his stuff and then right out the front door—away forever. Let Shay and the group hiring them handle the rest of this.
But instead he watched as Lianna smoothed the hair off Henry’s forehead, gave him a kiss good-night, whispered, “I love you.”
You’re all in it together.
Like a family.
Lianna met his gaze, something like sympathy in her eyes, as if she could see every untimely, unnecessary emotion on his face.
He turned abruptly and moved into the hallway. He looked back toward the door he’d entered. No doubt Lianna’s bedroom was the door closest to that one. No doubt she kept herself as some kind of barrier to shield Henry from the outside world.
He’d never had anyone in his life shield him from anything. He’d learned to get over that—or thought he had. Army. North Star. He’d depended on himself and that had been good and right.
Lianna stepped into the hallway and closed Henry’s door behind her. She looked at him enigmatically. “It was very kind of you,” she said quietly. She had her innkeeper voice on. Courteous but firm. “But I don’t think we’ll be having a repeat performance.”
Reece nodded stiffly. No. No repeat performances. No more letting himself get walloped by a ship that had sailed a long time ago.
He belonged to no one and no one belonged to him, and that was the way of his world. Nothing could change it. Wishing he could was useless. Pointless.
He reminded himself to move, to walk toward the door out. He glanced once more at her room door. He could barge in and show her exactly what he knew. But the listening device would hear.
And you don’t want to hurt her.
She followed him to the door back to the main areas of the inn. He knew she still had chores to do out there, but she’d wait until Henry was asleep.
He had to tell her she was in danger. Surely someone listening to her every move meant she was in danger.
Or she’s perfectly safe, because she knows nothing, and people have likely been listening for months without acting on it.
Regardless, he couldn’t tell her here. He’d have to tell her outside. A note would be too long and complicated. This had to be done face-to-face and away from the bugs. Maybe he could catch her while she was gardening or walking to get Henry at the bus stop. He’d tell her and...
And what?
He knew she was waiting to close the door behind him. To lock him out. Where he belonged.
He knew he should go, but words tumbled out instead.
“For what it’s worth... I know I shouldn’t be attached, or care. I’m nobody. But I am and I do. So I’ll keep my distance.” He stepped out, headed for his room, without even a glance behind him.
He’d pack up and leave. Let Shay send in Sabrina to get the rest of the information. He’d gotten the first step figured out—Lianna didn’t know she was being listened to.
Sabrina could do the rest. This was one assignment that was too... It was beyond him. He wasn’t right for it. They could send him into danger, into the wilderness. Something remote and challenging. Not a widow and her cute kid.
This was too much. He couldn’t do it. He just couldn’t.
CHAPTER FIVE
Lianna went through her usual routine feeling like spun glass. As though one thing might shatter her into a million pieces.
She waited until she heard Henry’s snores on the monitor. Would he ever be old enough for her not to need to hear his heavy breathing to know he was okay? It was just the house was so big, and she had so much to do.
She had to know he was safe. If that was paranoia, so be it. She’d let a stranger into their private quarters today. A stranger.
She leaned against the back door she’d been locking, squeezing her eyes against the lance of pain. Reece had sat there and answered Henry’s questions with a patience and...a thoughtfulness Henry’s own father had never given him.
He’d looked so wrong. His big frame taking up that small desk chair meant for a little boy. But the way he’d seemed so arrested and then devastated when Henry had said, Like a family... Lianna had wanted to be able to give Reece something. Anything to ease that heartbreaking look.
So you told him he couldn’t do it again.
Yes, she’d had to.
Reece and his loneliness and lack of family were not her problems. Who knew? It could be all fabricated. Made up to make her sympathetic so he could do any number of terrible things.
She was being smart and safe. It wasn’t anxiety, paranoia or fear. It was just common sense.
She walked through her evening responsibilities—making sure everything was in its place. She ended in the kitchen and stared at the dishes Reece had used and washed.
She didn’t like this conflict inside of her. This inability to stick to a course of action. It reminded her too much of what she’d been in those last years with Todd. Someone who knew what she had to do, but had been too afraid to do it. Not because of any real threat, but because it required courage.
Lianna marched into the kitchen, put Reece’s dishes and the clean ones from the dishwasher away. She would check to make sure the doors were locked, go to sleep and wake up with a clear head.
There’d be other guests here this weekend. Maybe that would help her work through all her conflicting feelings about Reece.
And maybe you should know better than to indulge in conflicting feelings about another man.
She stopped at the back door. It was locked, but instead of moving on to the front door, she turned the dead bolt. She stepped outside onto the much smaller back porch. She took a deep breath of the night air. The spring peepers were chirping and night rustled around her. Summer was trying to push through, but it hadn’t arrived this far north yet. The moon and stars shone and everything was...
She’d felt so settled, and then Reece Conrad had walked into her inn and sent her into some kind of spiral.
It wasn’t his fault. Whether he was a good man or an evil one, she was the only one who could control her life. Blaming paranoia on Todd didn’t get her anywhere. Todd was dead. She was alive, and she had Henry.
It had been a rough year, with a lot of change, but Henry was thriving.
And what about yo
u?
She wasn’t there yet, no, but she could get there. She just had to work through what she was feeling. Not be afraid of it. Not hide it away.
So, here in the dark, she let herself cry. Racking sobs. She’d never let herself cry when she was married to Todd. Never let herself feel. She’d blocked it off and away deep inside to get through the day.
She had to keep a certain kind of control on the worst of her negative emotions around Henry, so as not to scare him, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t indulge when she was alone.
“Lianna.”
She whirled around at Reece’s voice, her heart beating too hard in her chest. And it wasn’t just fear. It was something else. Something she hadn’t allowed herself to feel in a long time.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked. It was dark, but in the moonlight it looked like he was scanning the woods around them. That was when she noticed he hadn’t come out the back door; he was standing at the bottom of the porch stairs. Why would he have come around the front? Why...was he here? Asking her what was wrong when she was trying to have a good private cry?
She immediately wiped at her cheeks, hoping to...avoid this, whatever it was. “I thought you’d gone to bed.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked again, undeterred by her attempt at deflection.
“Nothing,” she said, a little too shrilly. Or like a guilty child. “I just needed a moment to myself. The moon is pretty tonight. Excuse me, I have to—”
But he stepped in front of the door, stopping her from darting inside. Alarm spread through her and she tried to think of how she would fight this man who was so much bigger than her and... And carrying a bag.
“What are you doing?” she asked, sidetracked by the fact that he was carrying not just his camera bag in the middle of the night—which would have been strange enough—but the big duffel he’d shown up with, too.
He cleared his throat. “I heard you crying. I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
Harlequin Intrigue May 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Page 23