“We match,” he murmured at last.
Dana nodded, unable to articulate an answer.
“These are for you.”
She took the flowers from him, inhaling their fragrance. “They’re beautiful. Thank you. For the wine too. It was very thoughtful of you. Come in.”
He did her bidding and locked the door behind him. “Something smells good in here. Did you make bread?”
“That’s the tortillas. Do I detect a hungry man?” she teased as she put the flowers in a glass vase and used it as a centerpiece. The yellows, pinks and purples erased the drabness of the trailer.
“Ravenous would be more accurate. I had to miss lunch today.”
“Then we’ll eat first and talk later.”
“A woman after my own heart.”
She let out a gentle laugh. “If you’ll pour the wine, I’ll put dinner on the table.”
As she hastened to serve them, she felt an air of unreality about the whole situation with Jace. It was like the way she’d felt on her first day in prison. She couldn’t believe what was happening to her then either.
The only difference was that if he was part of some ongoing dream, then she never wanted to wake up.
“Another taco?” she asked awhile later. Judging by the amount he ate, he seemed to enjoy everything.
“How many have I had?”
“I think about seven.”
“Make it an even eight. These are the best things I’ve ever tasted.”
“Everyone loves my mom’s recipe.”
He trapped her gaze. “You forgot to add that you’re a fabulous cook. This meal is delicious.”
“Thank you. Now, before I die of curiosity, tell me what happened to you today.”
He swallowed the last of his wine. “While I was making deliveries this morning, someone slashed one of the rear tires on the van.”
“What?”
Jace nodded. “I didn’t know about it until another motorist alerted me after I’d pulled out of the alley behind the drugstore. Fortunately, I was still in town and could make it to the filling station without causing any damage to the rim.”
“Thank heaven you weren’t hurt, Jace! If you’d started down the mountain, you might have—”
“Don’t think about it,” he broke in on her. “I only told you what happened to explain why I was late. It took more time than I thought to get the spare put on. After that I had to drive at a slower speed to get the deliveries done.
“I should have phoned you earlier to let you know, but I thought I could make up the time as long as I didn’t let people detain me to talk.”
She shook her head. “I don’t mind your being late. What I find so abhorrent is that some teenage criminals are vandalizing property around here in broad daylight.”
“It happens.” He pushed himself away from the table and stood up. “Let me help you with the dishes so we can get to that movie.”
While she put things away, he loaded the dishwasher. Working in such a tiny space, they brushed against each other several times. Every time there was contact, her senses came more alive.
It was a good thing the phone rang when it did or she might have thrown herself at him. As it happened, she’d left the phone on the coffee table.
One look at the caller ID and she recognized the California number.
“Heidi?”
“Dana, I’ve only got a second before Gideon walks through the door, but I had to tell you first.”
“What is it?”
“I just took three different home pregnancy tests to make sure. All of them came out positive. We’re going to have a baby!” she cried for joy.
“Oh, Heidi,” Dana squealed in delight. “That’s so wonderful I can’t stand it! This time he’ll know he’s the biological father. I’d give anything to see the look on his face when you tell him.”
“Since our wedding night he hasn’t talked about my getting pregnant because he’s been afraid of putting any pressure on me. But I happen to know it’s the news he wants to hear more than anything in the world. Oh—I can hear the key in the lock!” she cried out again excitedly. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Promise you’ll phone the second he leaves for work?”
“I swear.”
Dana clicked off and turned a beaming face to the man who was wiping off the counter.
He stared at her through narrowed eyes. “I take it your friend is pregnant.”
“Yes!” She almost shouted the word. “You can’t imagine what this news is going to do to her husband, Gideon. His first marriage failed because his wife was unfaithful, but he didn’t find out that their son, Kevin, had been fathered by another man until he went to court to get custody. Her lies really scarred him. Then he met Heidi and everything changed.
“She got off the phone just now because Gideon was coming in the house. Right this minute she’s telling him he’s going to be a father. He’s going to be the happiest man on the planet.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Jace murmured in a solemn voice.
Tears filled Dana’s eyes. “If ever two people deserved that kind of happiness, they do. Heidi’s so in love with her husband. As for Gideon, he adores her. To be able to have a baby—to give him his heart’s desire and know his child is growing inside her, that’s what life is all about. I’m so happy for them I could burst.”
“They’re very lucky.”
She detected a huskiness in his tone. The conversation must have reminded him of his wife’s untimely death. If his marriage had been a love match like Heidi and Gideon’s, then she couldn’t imagine him ever fully recovering from the loss.
He’d said it was restlessness that had brought him to West Texas for a temporary period. When he told Dana he wouldn’t be in the area much longer, had he been cautioning her not to count on anything?
If so, the warning had come too late, because she’d fallen hard for him.
“Thank you for helping me with the dishes. I’m ready for that movie now if you are.”
He flashed her an enigmatic glance before escorting her out to his car. Neither of them spoke as he drove them into town. Since Heidi’s phone call, there’d been a change in him. Dana was glad they were going to see a film. It would provide a needed distraction.
Dana knew he found her attractive or he wouldn’t have asked her out. She imagined he’d dated other attractive women before her, and would do so again after he’d moved on. Dana knew that either he wasn’t over his wife yet, or he hadn’t met another woman he could love.
Jace drove them to the theater, parked around the corner and paid for their tickets inside. By the time they found their seats, the film had already started.
Once they were settled, the strange tension that had been building on the drive over seemed even more pronounced. Glad for the nonstop action on the screen, Dana pretended to be engrossed in the movie.
At the short intermission, he excused himself for a minute, leaving Dana to her thoughts.
Before tonight, Dana had been afraid he wouldn’t want to get to know her better because of her prison record. Now she wondered if the memory of his wife might be an even bigger hurdle.
Dana had no power to fight a ghost like that. She didn’t want to. If he asked her out again, she wasn’t sure she would say yes.
When the curtain opened for the second half of the film, Jace still hadn’t returned. Dana turned in her seat, wondering what could be keeping him.
The sight of Glen Mason staring at her from three rows back sent a shiver of revulsion through her body. He’d come to the theater alone, and Dana felt sure that it was no accident he’d chosen to sit so she was in his direct line of vision.
Though she felt like bolting, she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. Instead, she turned back slowly to look at the screen. To her relief, Jace joined her moments later. When he slid his arm around her shoulders, she felt even better.
“Don’t look now but Glen Mason came in while I was on the phon
e. He’s sitting behind us,” he whispered into her hair.
“I saw him.”
“Did he attempt to talk to you?”
“No. Do you think he followed us here?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s seen my car parked next to your trailer. Now he knows who’s been visiting you. We’ll just stay cozy like this so he gets the point.”
Dana tried to keep her feelings in check. He was only putting on a show to protect her from Glen.
They watched the movie to its conclusion, but Dana had no idea what went on. She was too aware of Jace’s warmth, his soapy fragrance, the feel of his hard-muscled body making contact with hers.
As the lights went on, Dana got up from her seat, disengaging Jace’s arm in the process. She glanced behind her. “Glen’s gone.”
Jace rose to his feet with a brooding expression on his face. “Well, he didn’t come to see the movie.”
When they reached the aisle, Dana made certain she left some distance between them. The last thing she wanted was for Jace to think she’d read anything personal into his playacting.
“How did you like it?”
“I thought the new Bond did a great job.”
“Liar,” he teased on the way to the car. “With Glen sitting behind us, you didn’t have a clue what was going on.”
“You’re right.” I didn’t. However, it wasn’t because of Glen.
“I shouldn’t have left you,” he said once they were inside the car. “But I needed to make a call to the dispatcher in Alpine about my van. He thinks it’ll have a new tire on by morning, but told me not to report to work before ten.
“That means I can camp out up here tonight. Shall we go straight to the observatory, or do you need to go back to the trailer first?”
Jace was an exciting man, but she didn’t think that spending any more time with him was a good idea. What she preferred to do was tell him a little white lie. It was a lot better than saying, “I can’t handle being a temporary diversion.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to go home. I developed a headache during the film and it seems to be getting worse.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” He sounded upset.
“I was hoping it would pass. It’s the kind I have to sleep off.” She was about to tell him he could look through the telescope on another night, but caught herself in time.
He frowned. “You’re frightened about Glen.”
“To be honest, I find him more repulsive than frightening, but that’s not the reason for my headache.”
“No matter the reason, seeing Glen didn’t help.” On that terse note, Jace drove her home in record time. He got out to open her door, but she jumped out before he could reach the handle.
As she moved past him to open the trailer door, her arm brushed his chest by accident. The tautness of his body surprised her. It appeared he was more concerned over Glen than she was.
“Is there anything I can do for you before I go?” He stood outside the door, eyeing her with concern.
“Nothing, thank you. I had a good time tonight. Thanks again for the wine.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he declared, ignoring her comments.
“That’s very nice of you but I’m afraid I won’t be here.”
His face closed up. “What do you mean?”
“I’m leaving for California in the morning.” She hadn’t planned to go so soon, but the situation with Jace changed everything. In order to get him out of her system, it meant putting distance between them right now, before she really got hurt.
“When will you be back?”
“In a few days. I’ve hit a snag in my project only my father can help me with.” Another white lie, but she’d told it in the spirit of self-preservation. “He does his best thinking when we take long walks in the woods.”
After a brief silence, “Since you’re leaving on a trip, I’d better let you get to bed so you can sleep off that headache.”
She nodded. “Enjoy your campout.”
As she started to shut the door, he said, “How am I supposed to enjoy anything when I know in my gut you’re lying through your teeth to get rid of me.”
Dana averted her eyes. She hadn’t been prepared for his comeback.
“Unless you’ve already canceled, I thought there was a star party planned for a group of children tomorrow night.”
Jace reminded her a lot of Gideon, the brilliant detective who’d visited her in prison. A man who never minced words and always got straight to the point. A man whose instincts were so sharp, he knew the moment she’d lied to him too.
“Until the phone call from Heidi, you were with me all the way, so don’t deny it.”
“I—I won’t,” she said in a tremulous voice.
“I’m not a vain man, Dana, but I do know when a woman is interested. You’re not the kind of person to blow hot then cold. I thought we’d gotten past the problem of your prison record. But maybe that was naive of me.”
She should never have lied to him.
“Is it possible that despite all your good qualities, you still don’t feel worthy of a meaningful relationship? The kind your married friend enjoys with her husband?”
She shook her head, but he didn’t seem to notice. Jace was determined to get at the whole truth.
“Are you so afraid of being hurt that you would shut us down before we have a chance to explore what there could be between us?”
“Yes!” she cried, “but not because I’ve been in prison. There’s another reason altogether.”
“Then tell me.”
Struggling for the right words, she said, “You remind me of an earthgrazer.”
“What’s that?” he demanded in a soft tone.
“An asteroid that flies close to a heavenly body like Earth. But it can never quite pull free of its own orbit to make contact. After creating a certain amount of havoc, it speeds on into the dark void of space never to be seen again.”
“That’s a fascinating analogy, but I don’t understand how it applies to me.”
She lifted her head to face him. “Certain things happened tonight that made me realize you loved your wife very much.”
“I did.” His complete honesty didn’t come as any surprise.
“The other night you told me you’d come to Alpine for a temporary period because you’ve been restless since your loss. You also indicated you’d be relocating soon.”
“That’s true too.”
She had to stifle a groan. “Please don’t misunderstand. This isn’t some kind of accusation. If the same experience had happened to me and I’d lost my husband, I’m not sure I would have ever gotten over my grief.
“All I’m trying to say is, I know myself too well. It just wouldn’t work for me to go on seeing you.”
By now he had both hands on either side of the door frame. “I’ll admit I’ve been whipping around the universe licking my wounds for a long time. That is until I grazed by a certain heavenly body named Dana Turner.”
As his gaze fused with hers, she felt her legs start to tremble.
“The pull of your gravity knocked me right out of orbit. Since then you and I have been on a collision course, so I’m giving you fair warning. There’s going to be contact. It’s just a matter of time… Good night.”
DUE TO THE STEEPNESS of the terrain, the fenced-off ranches of the northeast quadrant of Cloud Rim didn’t have as many outbuildings to search.
After leaving Dana’s trailer, Jace spent the rest of the night driving along the fire road to check out the few barns large enough to house a small plane. He found only one, but there was no approach that would allow a plane to land.
Around four-thirty in the morning he called it quits and drove back to Alpine. His frustration lifted the moment he thought of Dana.
The next time he saw her, he intended to do something to move things forward. For now, he required sleep until he had to report to work.
Though he’d set his alarm for
nine-thirty, the phone rang before it went off. He reached blindly for the cell phone and put it to his ear.
“Riley,” he muttered, still halfway comatose.
“Jace? Sorry to wake you, but I know you’re going to want to hear this.”
The inflection in Pat’s voice brought him to a sitting position. “Go ahead.”
“The man at the apartment is named Lewis Burdick. You’ll like this part. Through our sources we found out he hired on as a mechanic at the Jeff Davis Truck Stop last December.”
Bursting with adrenaline, Jace sat upright. “That puts him and Glen in the Cloud Rim area at the right time.”
“The ducks are starting to line up, Jace. His description fits the one that so upset Glen Mason. We got some film of the two of them talking together at the truck stop.
“Burdick drives a black ’98 Harley Soft Tail registered to him at that address. There are no outstanding warrants for his arrest, not even a speeding ticket. Like Glen, he’s clean as far as the state of Texas is concerned.”
Jace’s hand tightened on the phone. “Too bad we weren’t able to get a good print off the minicamera. We’re going to need to lift some fingerprints from the truck and the motorcycle. I’m counting on a computer match to give us a lead.”
“I’ll get the guys on it.”
“Find out if the film of Glen slashing the tire shows him wearing gloves. If he did the job without them, and the knife could be found, it would produce a good set of prints. That may be the only way to track down the information we’re looking for.”
“What about Ralph Mason?”
“He’s in the dark. Yesterday I dropped by on the pretext of asking if he knew the fictitious Shelby Norris. One thing led to another, but he wasn’t able to tell me anything concerning Glen’s whereabouts before he showed up at Christmas.”
“Do you think he was holding back information?”
“No. The man was open in his concern about his grandson. He’s grief-stricken over his own son’s behavior and despairs of what’s going to happen to Glen in the future.
“Get this— He said the only bright spot in his life was the fact that Glen had been dating Dana all month and was in love. Ralph thinks the world of her, and has already given Glen his wife’s ring so he can propose. He’s praying that marriage to Dana will help straighten out his grandson.”
Beneath A Texas Sky (Harlequin Super Romance) Page 9