Heiress Under Fire

by Morey, Jennifer

  He turned his head and caught her looking. She averted her eyes, watching the busy traffic on the highway. Elam did a good job keeping up with the crazy drivers, weaving or braking when necessary. Drivers here didn’t follow rules. If there were any.

  “Will you have any time off?” she asked. She didn’t mean to sound leading. “I mean…will you have to go on a mission right away?” It still sounded leading. “Not that I want to…I didn’t mean…”

  “Travis mentioned something after he talked to Odie. Looks like I might be gone for a few weeks.”

  She nodded. So that was the way of it. He would go from one mission to the next and never look back.

  “What about you? What are you going to do?” he asked almost conversationally.

  “I don’t know. I can’t stand the thought of not working. Maybe I’ll open an antique shop. I could fix up old radios and sell them there, too.”

  His lips curved into a smile. “That suits you.”

  She looked out the passenger window. They sounded like two people riding the bus next to each other. Who would guess they’d ever been naked together?

  Minutes passed.

  She looked out the window again. Strange, how this thing between them seemed so significant and yet she couldn’t feel further away from him.

  They rode the rest of the way to the airport without saying another word. Elam parked the rental and helped her with her luggage. After she checked in, he walked with her as far as he could.

  Now it was goodbye. This time for real. No one was going to jump out at her and throw them together again. She’d probably never see him again.

  He stood staring at her, as if there was something he wanted to say but didn’t know how.

  “Well…thank you. For everything,” Farren said.

  He continued to stare at her. Feeling more and more uncomfortable, she glanced toward her gate. She felt his hand on hers and looked at him again. He pulled her toward him. His arm laced around her waist. She flattened her hands on his chest as he bent to kiss her.

  She stiffened. He moved his mouth over hers. She didn’t want to feel the sparks he set off. But it was useless fighting it. She sagged against him and kissed him with all her heart.

  After long seconds, he lifted his head. She could stare into those eyes forever. Reaching up, she touched his mouth with her fingers and then traced the line of his eyebrow and trailed her fingers behind his ear. She kept looking up at him, wanting to memorize his face.

  I love you, she almost said. Her breath hitched with the shock that zapped her. She did love him.

  And that’s what made this so different from the other times men had left her. This time it was more than her zeal to procreate that was being crushed. Her whole heart was invested now.

  Taking a step back, he reached into his back pocket and removed a business card.

  Still reeling from her revelation, she took it from him. TES was printed on it along with his name and one telephone number. Nothing else. She lifted her eyes in question.

  “In case you need to reach me,” he said.

  And she knew what he meant. The only reason he’d want her to call is if she had something to tell him. He wouldn’t want her to call otherwise.

  That hurt. How could he?

  Struggling with the tightening of her throat and the sting of moisture in her eyes, she slipped the card into her handbag. She hesitated before lifting her eyes, waiting until she had control of her emotions. She welcomed the numbness that seeped through her. She took in the sight of him one last time. Then without saying anything, turned and walked to her gate.

  Elam had deliberately scheduled a different flight from Farren’s. Better to break it off cleanly. His flight back to Denver had left the next day. Now he was on his way back to Roaring Creek, and he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He’d wanted to see her last night, but what would that have accomplished? He didn’t want to give her false hopes and he didn’t want to fall any harder than he already had. Being with her on a yacht was different from being with her at home in the U.S. They lived in different states. He had a job that took him all over the world. She had a life on a secluded island. They might as well live worlds apart.

  He tried to imagine himself living in Maine, in her quaint little house on the ocean. Mixed feelings assailed him. The idea charmed him but also filled him with cold dread. They could have a real family life—whether he was gone a lot or not. He couldn’t shove off the sensation that he could be happy there. With her.

  But would she be happy with him?

  Travis parked behind RC Mountaineering. Elam sat behind him in the backseat, Keenan beside him, and Haley in the front passenger seat. She and Travis had been awfully chummy on the ride up here.

  Elam got out of the car and watched Travis take Haley’s hand as they headed for the back door. She smiled up at him across her shoulder.

  Entering through the back, Elam followed Travis and Haley through what once was a kitchen but now housed racks of clothes and outdoor gear. Odie rose from a chair next to the checkout counter across the room.

  “Cullen’s waiting downstairs,” she said.

  “Hey, Odie,” Travis said.

  Odie looked at Elam. “So is there going to be a wedding?”

  Elam sent her a derisive smirk.

  “Where is she?” Odie asked.

  “He took her to the airport in Bodrum,” Haley said. “He said he gave her his card.” She looked back at him in distaste.

  Odie laughed. “As if she’s ever going to call you.”

  Elam regretted telling the team anything at all, but Haley had grilled him, and he felt that he had to say something to quiet her questions.

  “You do realize, you’re the one who’s going to have to call her, don’t you?”

  “Nice to see you, too, Odie.” Elam headed for the stairs leading to the basement. To his right, the conference-room door was open. Cullen sat at one end of the long table, reading a news article. Probably the one about Congressman Shay and the terrorist attack that nearly killed him. Elam had already read it on the plane. There had been no mention of TES, only of a passing yacht and the people who stopped to help him after his boat had been attacked by terrorists. No names were mentioned. There had been no mention of Farren, either. The press didn’t know who had stopped to help Shay, and Shay had claimed he didn’t know, either. He’d been unconscious, so everyone believed him, though there had been a lot of speculation over how deftly his rescuers had killed the terrorists.

  “Elam.” Cullen smiled.

  The others filed into the room. Elam sat adjacent to Cullen and began the debriefing, careful not to reveal too much about Farren.

  After the debriefing wrapped up, Cullen looked from Travis to Haley. “I need the two of you to fly to Liberia in three days. We’ve got a situation developing there. It’ll just be a recon mission. Gather some information and bring it back. We’ll decide what to do based on that.”

  “If it’s just recon, I can handle that on my own,” Haley said.

  “Travis is going with you,” Cullen replied.

  She sent Travis an unmistakable glare before returning her look to Cullen. “Why does he always have to go along with me on missions?”

  “Because he’s good.”

  “I don’t need a protector.”

  “I never said you did.”

  “Then send Keenan with me.”

  Cullen looked from her to Travis. “Is there a problem I don’t know about?”

  “No problem,” Travis said, turning his head to look at Haley. “I’m going with her.”

  “You don’t have to protect me all the time. It isn’t your job.”

  “It’s Liberia, Haley. It’s too dangerous for you.”

  “Too…” She fumed. “I can take care of myself!”

  “I’m going, and that’s final. If you want to argue, let’s do it over dinner tonight.”

  Her mouth dropped open and she stared at him. “Dinner?”

>   “Yes. I’m asking you to have dinner with me.”

  “Well, aren’t you the charmer.”

  “Will you?”

  She folded her arms and leaned back on the chair with a jerk. “Yes. But only to argue.”

  Elam smiled. He’d always thought the two of them would make a good couple.

  Cullen looked at Keenan. “I’ve got a team headed for South Africa at the end of the week. They could use a good spotter.”

  “I’m their man,” Keenan said.

  Cullen turned to Elam. “You’re taking a couple months off.”

  Elam sharpened to full awareness. “Why?”

  “That’ll be all for the three of you.” Cullen passed his gaze from Travis to Haley to Keenan.

  The three rose and left the room. When the door shut, Elam tried to calm his anger as he met Cullen’s gaze.

  “I questioned Haley about you and Farren.”

  “And that’s why you’re making me take a leave?”

  “I don’t usually pull an Odie, but this time I’m making an exception.”

  “I’m not following you.”

  “Take some time off, Elam. Figure it out for yourself.”

  Elam could only stare at him. Was he trying to get him to see Farren? Leave him with all kinds of time on his hands to keep the opportunity open?

  Cullen checked his watch. “I’ve got to run. Sabine is cooking dinner for her mom and dad tonight.” He stood.

  “I don’t need time off.”

  “That’s not what I heard.”

  “There’s nothing going on between me and Farren. I can do my job. That hasn’t changed.”

  “I have no doubt in your abilities, Elam. In fact, I’m sure you could do your job just as well if you were married. It’s the unsettled state you’re in right now that worries me.”

  Married? A cold chill froze him on the inside. “I don’t want to get married. You don’t have to do this. I’m fine.”

  Cullen stopped halfway to the conference-room door and turned. “I’m not asking.”

  Elam followed him up the stairs, where Odie waited at the front door. It was so like her to hang around and gloat.

  She smiled. “What are you going to do on your vacation?”

  Elam wasn’t in the mood for her teasing.

  “Leave him alone, Odie,” Cullen said as he left through the front door. Then to Elam, he said, “I’ll call you.”

  Elam turned his back when the door closed, ignoring Odie, and strode toward the back door.

  “What do you want to bet when he does call, you’ll be on a quaint little island called Mount Desert?” she called to his back.

  He slammed the back door and headed for the car.

  “Sorry, Elam,” Haley said when he got into the backseat. “He wouldn’t stop questioning me.”

  He didn’t say anything, not trusting his anger right now. Haley didn’t deserve the brunt of it.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t compare her to Veronica,” Haley said. “She may look like a fragile spring flower, but she really isn’t. How many women do you know who’d steal your gun and venture out on their own in search of answers?”

  “She does have guts,” Travis said as he started to drive.

  Elam looked through the window and didn’t respond. Mostly because it all rang true. Farren wasn’t what she seemed.

  One of her chatter binges filtered up from memory. She’d told him about a movie.

  A person’s strength isn’t always obvious right away…

  Had he underestimated her? Was he so afraid of losing another person that he’d closed himself off to the possibility of love? Farren had told him as much. Could he trust her to stay with him despite the demands of his job? He’d never given her a chance to show him she could. But that was the problem. He didn’t think he could.

  Chapter 13

  Farren sat with the phone in one hand and Elam’s card in the other. It had been almost eight weeks since she’d last seen him. She should call him. She’d taken a pregnancy test two weeks ago. She’d purchased two more and performed those, too.

  There was no denying it. She still felt the same as she had then. Deliriously happy and morosely depressed. The thought of having a baby thrilled her to no end. The fact that it was Elam’s crushed her. This wasn’t how she imagined her life going. She wanted a husband to go with the baby.

  She pressed each number into the handset, but stopped before the last one and then hit End.

  She growled low in her throat and tossed the phone onto the table. “Why is this so hard?”

  Because he doesn’t want to hear from me unless it’s to tell him I’m pregnant.

  How humiliating would it be to call and tell him? The situation reminded her of when she was a young girl and she was awarded a part in a school play but didn’t have the nerve to tell her foster parents. She didn’t think they’d want to go. She told them at the last minute and they hadn’t come.

  A knock on her front door provided a welcome distraction. She saw Delphie through the peephole and opened the door. She’d kept a close eye on Farren since she’d come home from Chicago.

  “I got a new shade of nail polish,” she said, holding a basket with all the supplies necessary to do their nails.

  Farren sat beside her on the top step of her porch. Delphie handed her the polish.

  “It’s dark blue.”

  “Isn’t it pretty?”

  “You go ahead. I’ll keep mine pink.”

  As she started to work, a delivery truck drove up. Farren took a package from the driver and saw it was from Shay.

  “He send you another baby gift?” Delphie asked.

  Farren smiled as she sat down again and opened the box. She pulled out a baby name book and a pair of tiny white booties. There was a note, too.

  She read it out loud for Delphie. “I hope you don’t mind. I can’t wait to be a grandpa.”

  They’d confirmed his paternity after he’d recovered. It was the one bright spot in Farren’s life. Not only had she gained a father, she had two half siblings, too. For once something went right for her. Well, the second bright spot. The first was the baby.

  “Have you told him yet?”

  Farren sighed, knowing who she meant. “No.”

  “You’re going to have to eventually.”

  “I don’t see why. He doesn’t want anything to do with me. It would be different if he wanted something to do with me. But then, if he wanted to something to do with me, he would have never left in the first place. I dated a couple of men like that before. You know, the kind who don’t tell you to your face they aren’t interested? One was an accountant and the other was a cop. The accountant I wasn’t surprised to find was a coward, but the cop…who would think a cop wouldn’t have the nerve to tell me to my face he wasn’t interested? Why do they have to blow me off like this? It’s repetitive. Is it me? Is it something I do? Something I—”

  “He has a right to know,” Delphie interrupted. “It doesn’t matter how he feels about you.”

  As always, the reminder that Elam felt nothing hurt. “Every time I try, I can’t go through with it.”

  Delphie stopped painting her toenails that god-awful color and looked over at her with sympathy in her eyes. “Maybe you should just write him a letter.”

  “He didn’t give me his address.”

  Delphie sighed. “So call him.”

  But Farren already knew she couldn’t.

  Elam left his house in Washington with a stack of unpaid bills. He couldn’t stand being here anymore. Damn Cullen for sentencing him to so much time off. It was driving him insane. He couldn’t stop thinking about Farren. He wondered how she was doing and was disappointed she hadn’t called. That meant she wasn’t pregnant. It disturbed him when he caught himself wishing she was.

  He drove to the mall, where he had a P.O. Box and could mail his bills. It was just an excuse to leave his house. He’d already taken a trip to the Caribbean, but the beach had only enflamed his th
oughts of Farren. He’d remodeled his entire kitchen and met his neighbor for the first time since he’d moved here two years ago. She was a single woman five years younger than him. She talked a lot, but was nowhere near as charming as Farren. There was no point to his neighbor’s chatter. It made him miss Farren and think of her with an expanding ache. There was nowhere to go to escape her.

  Entering the mall, he walked behind two older women. One of them was talking nonstop. He smiled when it reminded him of Farren. Then he passed a Victoria’s Secret store. Pinks and whites jumped out at him. He turned away in disgust. Everywhere he turned, Farren surrounded him.

  He didn’t have long to go before Cullen sent him on his next assignment. He’d made it this long. He could make it a few days more.

  He dropped off his mail and headed back toward the exit. At the Victoria’s Secret store, he stopped.

  Turning, he faced the entrance. Who was he kidding? He was miserable without her.

  She wanted babies. Soccer. Parent-teacher conferences. A real husband…

  His heart rapped to a faster beat. Did he dare risk trusting her? Apparently, his feet did. He walked into the store. Lace and silk and the scent of perfume assaulted his senses. He tipped his head back and closed his eyes, imagining her. Her amber eyes full of passion. Her body wrapped in a sundress. Those high-heeled sandals. That pink nail polish….

  God, he missed her.

  So, why was he still running? Why didn’t military women appeal to him anymore?

  Because they never had.

  The thought popped into his head. No military woman would satisfy him the way Farren did. He loved her femininity. Not that there weren’t feminine military women, but he’d convinced himself it was the tougher ones who appealed to him. Face it. It was femininity that he craved. Farren’s. He loved everything about her.

  Love. Yes. He loved her.

  What kind of coward was he for running? It was time to stop. Be a man and admit his feelings. Take the risk and give himself to her all the way.