by Leona Karr
“Good idea. I’ll watch the baby.”
“He needs some fresh air. I’ll use the baby backpack and take him with me.”
“That’s a stupid idea! Why do you want to jostle him around like that?”
Courtney closed her ears to Devanna’s harangue about carrying Jamie around like some helpless papoose, and packed a bottle and a couple of diapers in the backpack.
“You’ll just have yourself to blame if he gets sick.”
She left the houseboat with a sigh of relief, and began walking in an easterly direction along the lake’s edge. The day was warm, and she was glad she was wearing shorts and a comfortable blue summer top.
Carrying Jamie on her back wasn’t as easy as she’d thought, but she kept walking along the water’s edge until she came to some smooth rocks reaching out over the water, and decided it was time to rest.
She saw a sprawling modern building a short distance away. Some kind of recreational club, she decided. From her position on the rocks, she was able to make out tennis courts, a swimming pool, and some small boats anchored at a dock. She was glad she’d stopped before she’d walked that far. Being around strangers was the last thing she needed at the moment.
Holding Jamie in her lap, she tried to react to the serene beauty of the moment, but her thoughts betrayed her. Was this the side of the lake where Jensen’s body had been found?
As her mind pursued this unwelcome avenue, other unanswered questions puzzled her. Why had the gentle man’s death and funeral been framed in violence? Had Jensen been in some way involved in Neil’s investment deal that went sour? Could it be that his murder and the attempt on Neil’s life were somehow connected? Courtney shivered even though the warmth of the noonday sun brought a shine of perspiration to her brow.
She carefully shaded Jamie from the direct sun. Cooing in good humor, he played with her finger and tried to put it in his slobbering mouth. Everything else in her life might be in shambles, but the one, undeniable blessing was her baby.
As she nuzzled his tummy and heard his chortled giggle, her spirits lightened. She had a family now. She wasn’t alone any more. Her son made any challenge the world threw at her doable.
A few minutes later when she saw someone coming alone on the beach from the direction of the club, she felt an unreasonable annoyance at the invasion of her privacy.
It was a man, she could see that, and she mentally prepared herself to give him the cold shoulder if he tried to strike up a conversation.
As he approached, his gait seemed to quicken, and before she had time to prepare herself for recognition, he was almost upon her. She stared in disbelief as he waved his hand and gave her that disarming smile of his.
Neil!
“Hi, fancy meeting you here,” he quipped as he dropped down beside her. “Yes, it’s me. You know what they say about a bad penny?”
She could tell there was a questioning beneath his flippancy, as if he wasn’t sure of her reaction to his sudden appearance. She wasn’t sure about her response, either. Her heart had quickened upon seeing him again, but at the same time, a myriad of defenses had instantly fallen into place. The intimacy that had exploded between them was as much her fault as his, and she wasn’t ready to invite that kind of emotional upheaval again.
“How did you find me?” She kept her tone level despite a sudden breathless feeling.
“My brilliant power of deduction,” he answered facetiously, as if determined to keep the conversation light. “Your aunt said you were out for a walk with Jamie. I was pretty sure you’d head in this direction because it’s easier walking. After driving to the Lakeside Recreation Center, I parked the car, and started back this way to find you. And here you are!” He searched her face. “It’s all right, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” What else could she say?
“I just had to see you. There are things I need to get off my chest.”
She shook her head. “Not now.”
“We have to talk sometime,” he insisted. “What am I going to do with all these rehearsed speeches in my mind if you never let me say them?” He gave her one of his disarming smiles. “That’s cruel and unjust punishment, you know. Condemning a man without a hearing will weigh on your conscience. We don’t want that, do we?” he asked as he dramatically put his hand over his heart.
“Oh, stop it,” she said, laughing in spite of herself. His antics had a strange way of mocking the importance she had given the whole embarrassing incident. “All right, I’ll let you have your say, but not now. I just want to enjoy the fresh air, warm sun, and beautiful view.”
“I’ll go along with that,” he agreed, and a tight chord in his chest began to relax. It was going to be all right, he thought. The first hurdle was over. She hadn’t slapped his face and walked away.
For the next hour, they were able to step outside all unwelcome pressures as they talked, laughed, and put a different frame around their being together. They both skirted away from discussing the questions that weighed heavily on them.
“What do you say to lunch at the rec center?” Neil offered. “Nothing fancy. Everybody’s running around in exercise clothes, and being themselves.”
Just the thought of going back to the suffocating atmosphere of the houseboat made it easy for Courtney to accept the invitation. She was determined to enjoy Neil’s company as she would have a pleasant companion’s. It wasn’t his fault she’d almost gone over the deep end about him. There’d be no need to avoid him if she could keep her head on straight. His past romantic affairs were none of her business—and she intended to keep it that way. All she wanted was his safety, and an end to any threats against him.
Neil insisted on carrying Jamie in the backpack as they walked to the recreation center. More than one pair of eyes widened as they flickered over the baby and then settled speculatively on Courtney as if thinking, Neil’s latest conquest?
No doubt, there’d be a bevy of rumors flying around in short order, Courtney thought. But then decided she didn’t care.
Her total unconcern about the gossip surprised her. As it turned out, she found herself at the center of attention for another reason. Many of Neil’s acquaintances had heard, or read about, the shooting incident, and the two of them were hit with a barrage of questions.
“Is she the one who was with you?”
“Have they found the gunman?”
“Why was someone shooting at the two of you?”
Neil deftly fielded all the questions as best he could until they could escape to a private dining room where he had a membership.
During lunch, Neil tried several avenues of conversation without much success. The world had swept back on them, and destroyed the cocoon they’d briefly been able to put around themselves.
“Let me show you around,” he suggested after they’d eaten.
She shook her head. “I should be getting back.”
“Why?”
She didn’t have an answer. She’d changed Jamie, given him his bottle, and he had fallen asleep in her arms.
“There’s lots of activity going on in the center. You might see something that appeals to you. Are you a tennis player?”
She shook her head.
“How about Ping-Pong?”
As they passed a room filled with pool tables, she smiled.
“Don’t tell me.” Neil laughed in honest surprise. “Pool? You play pool?”
Courtney started to deny it, but a kaleidoscope of memories challenged her honesty. “My father’s occupation as a transient welder kept him on the move. The one constant in his life was his membership in a Brotherhood Lodge, and there was usually a local chapter wherever his job took him. While he spent time in the bar, or playing poker, and Mom was busy with the women’s auxiliary, I was free to hang out in the game room, watching the pool players.”
“And you did more than watch,” Neil prompted with a twinkle in his eye.
She nodded. From the time she was tall enough to look over the edge of the
pool table, she had managed to have a pool cue in her hands as often as possible. But when she reached adolescence, she realized that her prowess at the pool table was not an acceptable achievement for a young woman who desperately needed friends her age. She’d never admitted to her late husband that she’d ever been near a pool table.
The way Neil was looking at her made her toss her head. “Would you like to have me prove it to you?”
“By all means.” He loved the way her eyes were sparkling with defiance. He couldn’t believe that this totally feminine woman was going to challenge him to a game of pool. Should he warn her that he never held back or feigned a loss?
She hesitated. “What about the baby?”
Was she going to use Jamie as an excuse to back out of the challenge? He’d hoped to enjoy a side of her he’d never glimpsed before. He felt a pang of disappointment.
“How about we make a bed out of a couple of chairs,” he suggested. “And let Jamie sleep while his mother proves herself?”
“Fine.” She smiled at his eagerness. “Is eight ball okay?”
Fortunately one of the pool tables was free. Courtney selected a cue stick from the wall rack, and Neil could tell from the way she handled and chalked it that he might be in for more of a challenge than he expected.
“I’ll rack ’em and you break,” she offered.
“No, ladies first,” he said. He’d been no slouch about picking up some extra money at pool halls when he was in college.
As she deftly broke, the nine ball went into a corner pocket. “Okay, I’m shooting stripes, you’re solids.”
Graceful, intent, she moved around the table, eyeing her shots. Her supple body created a beautiful vision of concentration as she repeatedly pocketed ball after ball. Neil was mesmerized by the control she had over the game, and he realized allowing her to break had been an acknowledgment of her feminine inferiority, which was proving to be way off base. She ran the table, and took him for a second game more decisive than the first.
“I concede.” Neil put his arm around her waist and laughed. “A pool shark, if I ever met one.”
Courtney’s face flushed with pleasure. She couldn’t remember when she’d felt so fully alive. The way Neil was looking at her made her victory worth more than a silver trophy.
“I claim the right of a rematch,” he teased.
“Anytime,” she said with a confident toss of her fair head.
Neil gently picked up Jamie and settled him in his arms. “If you’ve had enough exercise, I’ll drive the two of you back.”
She knew her high spirits would instantly take a dive once she returned to the houseboat, but she really had no choice but to accept the offer.
“By the way, I have your purse in the car. I assured McGrady that I would personally deliver it.”
As they left the building and were heading for Neil’s car in the parking lot, he came to an abrupt stop.
The man coming toward them was Jake Delaney. His face turned an ugly purple when he saw Neil. His eyes bulged and he looked ready to explode.
“You bastard!” He hunched up his thick shoulders like a bull ready to paw the ground.
“Watch it, Delaney,” Neil ordered sharply as he quickly handed the baby to Courtney and stepped in front of her.
“Setting the cops on me, did you? Accusing me of shooting up your car?” He waved his clenched fists. “I ought to knock you sideways. Give you something to howl about.”
“I didn’t accuse you of anything. I just told the detective about the bad feelings between us over the investment deal.”
“Pointing your damn finger at me, that’s what you were doing.”
“The police asked me who might be angry enough to send my car off a cliff, and after our last telephone conversation, you came to mind.”
“Hell, when I get even with you, I’ll make damn sure I don’t miss.”
“Careful, Delaney. Is that another one of your threats?”
“More like a promise.” His angry glare swept over Courtney. “You’ve taken up with bad company, lady. I’d put a wide berth between you and Neil Ellsworth, if I were you.”
“She doesn’t need any advice coming from a guy who has had one foot outside the law all his life.”
“I’m just warning her that hanging around you might not be the best thing for her health. No telling what might happen—”
Neil lunged forward. He caught the man’s chin in an uppercut. The blow sent Delaney sprawling backward onto his butt.
“Get up,” Neil ordered, standing over him. “Repeat that threat, and I’ll knock a few teeth down your throat.”
Delaney wiped the blood trickling out the corner of his mouth. “By God, you’ll pay for that.”
Neil was ready when Delaney got to his feet, but instead of coming at Neil, he stomped away. When he was almost to the door of the building, he turned, shook his fist and shouted a volley of cuss words.
“Let’s get out of here.” Neil took Courtney’s arm.
His thunderous expression was like a storm about to break and the ugly scene had ignited all of Courtney’s fears over Neil’s safety.
Neither of them spoke until they were back at the houseboat. She was glad Devanna’s gray van was gone. She was not up to dealing with her aunt’s eccentricities.
Neil accompanied Courtney inside, and waited until she’d settled Jamie with a bottle in his bassinet before he took her hand and pulled her down on the couch beside him. The lovely mood between them had been completely shattered by the ugly encounter with Delaney.
“Do you think he’s the one who shot at us?” Courtney asked anxiously.
“I don’t know,” Neil admitted. “I’ve always thought Delaney more talk than anything, but he does have a record. He spent a few years in the pen for embezzlement. If he is the shooter, I bet Woodword put him up to it. He’s more of a manipulator than Delaney, and was the idea man behind this last scam.”
“You’ll have to tell McGrady. Get a restraining order against them, or something?”
“I’m afraid a piece of paper isn’t going to help much.” He touched her anxious face, letting his fingers smooth the worry lines around eyes. “But as wonderful as it was to be with you today, I’m not going to expose you to any more danger. Until this is settled, one way or another, the only safe thing to do is keep a distance between us.”
“I’m not afraid.”
“You should be.” He gave her a wry smile. “I won’t be pestering you for any more dates. I’m not taking any more chances.”
“It’s you I’m worried about.” She shivered, remembering the venom in Delaney’s eyes.
He drew her close and lowered his mouth to hers.
As she clung to him, his kisses were long, tender and passionate, but there was a finality about them that brought tears to Courtney’s eyes.
When he set her away from him, he got up and left the houseboat without another word.
“Stay safe,” she whispered. She didn’t know why an insidious premonition warned her that the decision he had made to stay away from her was somehow terribly wrong.
Chapter Seven
Courtney sensed a subtle change in her aunt’s attitude toward her. Devanna began asking questions about Neil as if she were suddenly interested in how serious their relationship might be.
“I suppose he’ll be hanging around,” she said, a questioning lift in her voice.
“Maybe not,” Courtney sighed and told Devanna about the confrontation with Delaney the day before.
Her aunt’s eyes glittered with interest. “And this guy made a threat against you?”
Courtney nodded. She’d never forget Delaney’s fiery eyes burning into hers. “He warned me to stay away from Neil.”
“He did, did he?”
Courtney took a deep breath. “And Neil took him seriously.”
“Well, I would say so.” Devanna nodded emphatically, as if her thoughts were whirling in some unknown direction. Her tone was speculative
. “You might be in all kinds of danger.”
“It’s Neil I’m worried about,” Courtney answered shortly.
“Oh, things are like that, are they?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Courtney lied. She wasn’t about to admit she lay awake at night, reliving the memory of his kisses and caresses. “There’s nothing serious between us.”
“Well, I can’t say that I’m surprised,” her aunt said with brutal frankness. “He walks around like he could buy just about anything…or anybody.”
“He does not,” Courtney said, flaring.
“You’ve got moondust in your eyes. You don’t want to see things the way they really are,” she scoffed. “Stuck-up people like that stick in my craw. Treat you like dirt under their feet. They’d just as soon kick you into the gutter as look at you.”
“Neil’s not like that!”
“We’ll see,” Devanna answered in a prophetic tone, as if she were privy to some special insight. “Maybe he’ll come around again, and maybe he won’t. Anyway, you’re a lot better off staying away from him. Stuck-up people with money are bad news.”
Courtney choked back a building fury. How dare her aunt make such judgmental pronouncements? Hadn’t she married a man with money? The more she got to know Devanna, the less she understood her. It was becoming harder and harder to keep her mouth shut.
Courtney was glad when her aunt suddenly seemed too preoccupied with other things to spend much time with her or Jamie. She was away from the houseboat a lot, and, for the first time since Courtney’s arrival, she came back, weary from shopping. Her arms were full of packages, and almost everything she’d bought was for the baby.
“Look at this. I just couldn’t resist it,” she exclaimed, holding up a miniature sailor’s outfit with matching booties. “And this…and this.” Sleepers, blankets, bibs and a half-dozen new outfits.
Courtney was speechless. She’d been very frugal when she bought a layette and baby clothes, and washing had been a daily routine. She looked in disbelief at the pile of Devanna’s purchases.
“I bought a larger size in some things. That way he’ll grow into them,” she said proudly. “I can hardly wait to see how darling he looks in them.”