“Enola doesn’t run my life. I’m just—oh, she thinks you’re a sorry, no-account womanizer.”
The amusement on his face rapidly disappeared. “And what do you think I am?” he asked gently.
A good man, she thought. A man that cared about his family and friends, and the men who worked for him. He was also a man who was capable of breaking her heart. If she was crazy enough to give him the chance.
“I don’t—necessarily think you’re a womanizer,” she said. “You’re just a man who likes women. And that’s not a crime. Nor does it stop us from being friends.”
His gray eyes turned rueful as he reached over and stroked a finger down her bare arm. “I guess I’ll never be able to live down my past entirely,” he said. “But for what it’s worth, Kerry, I don’t have a bunch of women in my life. In fact, you’re the first woman I’ve kissed in…let’s just say a long time.”
Kerry desperately wanted to believe him. She wanted to think she was special to this man. But she wasn’t totally naive. Sooner or later Jared would be leaving Black Arrow and when he did, she would be nothing more to him than a pleasant memory.
“I doubt you could convince Enola of that,” she said, deliberately trying to keep her tone light and teasing. “But if you insist on picking me up at the house—then okay, I’ll be ready at seven.”
“Good,” he said with a pleased grin. “Maybe the two of us can put our heads together and figure out what’s so interesting about my grandmother’s family tree.”
Chapter Eight
The next evening Jared left the excavation site early to drop by the sheriff’s office. Bram was in the parking lot about to climb into his truck when Jared trotted up to him.
“What’s the hurry?” Bram asked. “Is there a problem out at the site?”
“No. I need to talk to you about something. I tried to call you last night, but you wouldn’t answer the phone.”
“I had a meeting with the civil defense. It didn’t end until late,” he explained. “Why didn’t you leave a message?”
Jared leaned a shoulder against the door of Bram’s truck. “Because I wanted to talk directly to you about this.”
One of Bram’s brows lifted with amused intrigue. “What’s this about? Kerry WindWalker?”
Jared scowled at him. Joking about his female conquests in the past was one thing, but clumping Kerry in that same group bothered the hell out of him.
“No. I don’t need advice on my love life or lack of it,” he said in a voice gruff enough to cause Bram’s eyes to widen. “This is about our grandmother and our family. Somebody is trying to stick their nose into our personal business.”
Bram’s expression turned serious. “What are you talking about? Has someone been harassing Grandmother at the feed store?”
Jared shook his head. “Apparently you haven’t heard. A man was at the courthouse a couple of days ago asking to see records on Gloria Colton and her descendants.”
“Who was it? I’ll have him checked out.”
“Not that simple, brother. Apparently the man was a stranger.”
Bram absently scratched his cheek. “Hmm, that’s odd. I wonder why he didn’t question Grandmother or me?”
“That’s what Kerry and I wondered, too.”
Bram looked at him. “Kerry? I thought this wasn’t about her?”
“It isn’t. I mean, it isn’t directly about her. She’s the one who told me about the stranger. She was worried that he might be up to some mischief toward our family.”
Grinning now, Bram said, “Sounds like you’ve already gotten her in the palm of your hand.”
“Damn it, Bram. I’m not trying to get Kerry—” he stopped abruptly as he realized he was unwilling and even uncertain as to how to go on. On one hand he wasn’t trying to “get” Kerry in the way that Bram was thinking. But then he had to admit that he was more than mildly interested in the woman. All his waking thoughts were centered around her and spending every available moment he could with her was becoming a craving he couldn’t seem to assuage or dismiss. Still, he wasn’t about to admit he was falling in love. That was something that Jared Colton just didn’t do. “And you quit trying to change the subject.”
“All right,” Bram relented, “back to this stranger. You don’t have a name or description of the man?”
Jared shook his head. “No. But in the meantime, I’d like to have a key to the courthouse so that Kerry and I can search through the family records and see if we can come up with a reason for somebody to be snooping.”
Bram let out one mocking laugh. “You want a key to the courthouse. Just like that. Well, so would a lot of other people, little brother. It’s always an advantage to know whose property is coming up at the next sheriff’s sale.”
“Hell, Bram. I’m not hunting land that’s about to go for unpaid taxes! I only want to look at the birth, marriage and death records. They might tell us something.”
Bram laid an assuring hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Look Jared, I think you’re blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Everyone knows us Coltons. We don’t have any skeletons in the closet. Forget about it and let the stranger look all he wants.”
Jared sighed. “Bram, you wanted me to humor you about that damn key to the city thing. Now it’s your turn to indulge me about this. ’Cause frankly, I think something fishy is going on and I want to know what it is.”
Bram held up one hand before Jared could further argue his case. “All right. I’ll see what I can do. Come back by the office in about an hour and I’ll have a key rounded up for you. But you’d better make sure you guard the thing with your life. And I’d better not hear of anything left out of place.”
Jared affectionately slapped a hand on his brother’s arm. “Thanks Bram. And don’t worry. No one will ever know we’ve been anywhere near the courthouse. Much less inside it.”
The Comanche County courthouse was situated on a city block that also included the Liberty National Bank building. Most days Kerry gave the government building little more than a passing glance. And never in her wildest dreams did she think she and Jared Colton would be sneaking into the back door, long after closing hours. She still wasn’t sure why she was there at all. Except that once he’d invited her to join him, she’d not been able to turn down the chance to spend this quiet time with him.
“Do you know where the records are kept?” Kerry whispered to Jared as the two of them headed down a wide, dimly lit corridor.
Grinning, he reached for her hand. “You don’t have to whisper, Kerry. I don’t think anyone on the outside can hear us. And I sure as heck don’t expect anyone in this place to be working after hours.”
The feel of his fingers twined around hers was uniquely intimate and as they walked forward into the dark cavernous building it was easy for Kerry to imagine that Jared was leading her to his own private lair instead of a room with a bunch of file cabinets filled with old documents.
“Okay,” she said in a more normal tone of voice. “Do you know where you’re taking us?”
“Let’s look for a sign. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the door will be labeled.”
Jared’s assumption turned out to be correct. In one corner on the bottom floor, they found a door labeled Records. Once inside, Jared shut the blinds on the window, then switched on the overhead light. After that, it was easy to find the alphabetically filed documents.
The two of them pulled out everything they could find on Gloria and her twin sons Trevor and Thomas, then carried it all over to a small table equipped with padded metal chairs.
“What about the grandchildren?” Kerry asked as they sat shoulder to shoulder. “There’s what? Ten or eleven of you?”
“Eleven. So we can’t possibly go through each one of them tonight. We’ll have to come back tomorrow night.”
She arched her brows at him. “You expect me to come back here tomorrow night? With you?”
He chuckled at her dismay. “You make it sound as though I�
��ve brought you to a house of sin instead of a stuffy old courthouse.”
One of her shoulders lifted and fell. “That’s exactly what my mother thinks.”
He laughed with ease, then sobered as he watched a scowl wrinkle her face. “Still giving you problems over me?”
“She’s moved on to the silent treatment now. So I don’t want to imagine her reaction if I asked her to watch Peggy again tomorrow night. While I go out again with you.”
“Well, I wouldn’t mind if you brought Peggy with us,” he suggested.
Kerry glanced around the shadowy room lined with rows of tall metal file cabinets. It was hardly the place to keep a child quietly occupied.
“It’s sweet of you to offer, Jared,” she said, “but Peggy would be whining in no time flat. Especially if she couldn’t have Claws with her.”
Resting his arm along the back of her chair, he eased closer until his chest was very nearly touching her arm. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’m sweet, Kerry. I’m not. I’m selfish. Most men are, you know. And even if I wasn’t concerned about some stranger digging into my family’s private business, I’d still be searching for a way to spend time with you.”
His frankness shouldn’t have surprised her. After all, he’d made it pretty clear that he was physically attracted to her. But hearing him say it like this with the two of them so totally secluded, set her heart to pounding and her mind to wondering. Just how far did he intend to take this allure he had for her? As far as she would let him?
Licking her lips, she reached for the documents lying on the table in front of them. “I think—we’d better get to work. Before someone comes in here and catches us.”
He chuckled softly and the sensual sound slithered down Kerry’s spine. More and more she wanted to touch this man, to feel the excitement of his arms around her. And most of all, to taste his lips. Little by little, he was seducing her and he wasn’t even trying.
“This stuff we have here is public records,” Jared rationalized. “Anyone can look at it. All they have to do is ask.”
“Yes, but do we have a right to be in here after hours? I’m sure Bram has stuck his neck out by giving you that key.”
Shrugging, he said, “Bram has important friends in this town. And he knows he can trust me.”
She waggled a handful of papers at him. “Then we’d better get to work.”
With a good-natured groan, he eased back from her. “All right. You win. For now,” he added with a promising wink.
More than an hour and a half later, Jared leaned back in his chair and released a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know about you, Kerry, but this stuff we’ve been studying is boring to me. There’s nothing unusual here. It’s all birth certificates and my parents’ death certificates. And so far all the names and dates look correct to me. I don’t understand why anyone would need this sort of information.”
Kerry thoughtfully glanced at the papers still scattered on the tabletop. She and Jared had pored over the documents and so far none of the information had come as a surprise to Jared. As he’d said before, his relatives were all natives of Black Arrow. The information was mundane.
Yes, to him, she thought suddenly. But not to a stranger.
“Jared,” she said mindfully. “Maybe we’re not seeing anything here because we already know this information. But obviously the stranger didn’t. Something about these dates or names might be important to him.”
A quizzical frown wrinkled his dark features. “But why?”
Kerry had been trying to think of all the possibilities, but so far all of them seemed lame.
She glanced at him as another thought struck her. “Are you sure someone in your family hasn’t hired someone to do a family tree?”
Jared tossed the paper he was holding onto the table with the rest. “I don’t know why. Gloria has a bible with everyone’s name and birthday written in it. Anyone could get all this information from her.”
Kerry carefully considered his remark. “Which makes me believe this man doesn’t want to have contact with the Colton family. Nor does he want you to know he’s been prying into your background.”
Jared slowly nodded in agreement. “I think you’re right. But Bram wasn’t very alarmed when I told him about the stranger. He thinks the whole thing is probably harmless.”
“Well, everything we’ve come up with so far is speculative,” Kerry had to agree.
“True,” Jared admitted, “but it’s still weird. And I’m not going to rest until I find out just what the jerk is up to.”
Kerry folded her arms across her breasts as she studied him with new regard. “You know, this mission seems out of character for you.”
A wry grin twisted his lips. “Why is that? I’m not the James Bond type?”
She shook her head. “No. You’re not the family type. And you told me earlier that you’ve always been guilty of not keeping up with family interests. Why the concern now?”
Her question was something Jared had been asking himself. Bram probably suspected that he was doing this little investigation only as a means to spend time with Kerry. And that might be partially true. But it wasn’t the main reason he felt driven to protect the family. Something had happened to him that night he’d pulled Peggy from the dark, suffocating pipe and placed her in Kerry’s arms.
Seeing the terror in Kerry’s eyes change to joyous relief had jolted him from the happy-go-lucky life he’d tried to lead since he’d lost his parents. Taking life lightly had become second nature to him. If he always laughed, he reasoned with himself, there’d never be room for tears. But experiencing firsthand the close call with Peggy had made him see even more just how fleeting and precious life could be.
A sheepish smile touched his lips. “You’ve been telling me how lucky I am to belong to a big loving family,” he said, “and I guess it’s dawned on me that you’re right. I’m fortunate to have them all and if I can help to keep them safe and happy, then that’s what I want to do.”
The corners of her lips curled upward into a tempting grin. “You’d better be careful, Jared Colton, or you’re going to lose your reputation as a playboy.”
Chuckling, he started gathering the documents together. “Come on,” he told her. “Let’s put these things back where they belong and get out of here. We’ll look the others over tomorrow night.”
Carefully, the two of them returned the records to the correct slots in the file cabinets, then turned off the light and reopened the blinds.
At the back exit, Jared let the two of them out into the warm night. While he locked the door, Kerry stood close beside him and surveyed the shadowy clumps of shrubs that randomly dotted the lawn.
As her eyes reached the far corner of the building, she saw the limbs on one of shrubs rustle, then grow still. There was no wind tonight and the only sound she could hear was that of the light traffic traveling the main street in front of the building, yet she was quite certain someone was near.
“Hurry up with that lock, Jared,” she whispered softly. “I think someone is watching us.”
Jared pulled the key from the slot and rattled the door to make sure it was solidly locked before he turned around and took her by the upper arm. “Did you see someone? Where?”
“At the end of the building there.” She pointed directly in front of them to a spot where the building jutted up to a low stone wall. “That shrub was moving. And it couldn’t have been the wind. We don’t have any tonight.”
Instead of laughing away her suggestion, he lifted his head and studied the whole area around them. About thirty feet away, a graveled parking area was dimly lit with two streetlights. At the moment, the only vehicle in sight was Jared’s white truck. Between it and the spot where they stood was a wide lawn shaded by a huge sycamore tree and dotted randomly with several head-high shrubs. If someone was lurking nearby, it would be easy to keep to the shadows and go unnoticed. But why would someone be lingering about the courthouse at this time of night, he wond
ered. No one but Bram had been aware that Jared was going to be here. Unless someone had been following him, he thought grimly.
“Wait here and I’ll go look,” he said, keeping his voice low.
“No!” Kerry cried. “You’re not leaving me alone back here! I’ll go with you.”
Recognizing fear in her voice, he took her hand and squeezed it. “All right,” he conceded, “but stay behind me. And don’t say a word.”
Slowly they crept to the corner of the building where Kerry had seen the movement. By the time they reached the dense darkness created by the bush, her heart was pounding with fear and she wondered what she would do if someone stepped out of the shadows and attacked them. No doubt Jared was man enough to handle himself. But not if he was distracted with trying to save her.
She gripped his hand tightly as he edged toward the corner of the building, then peered furtively around the huge, hand-hewn sandstone.
“There’s no one here now,” he whispered. “Let’s get out of here.”
He kept Kerry close to his side until they reached the truck, then quickly he unlocked the vehicle and helped her inside. Once he was behind the wheel, he touched the electronic button to lock the doors.
“You really think someone might have been hiding in the shadows?” Kerry asked him. “I expected you to laugh at me for suggesting such a thing.”
He gave the secluded area around them another long search before he started the truck and pulled out of the parking lot.
“We may both be crazy,” Jared told her as he maneuvered the truck onto a nearby street. “But something back there was making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.”
Kerry outwardly shivered. “Jared, this—whatever it is—is not some harmless genealogy buff digging up records.”
“No,” he agreed. “That’s why we have to find what this man is looking for before he has the chance to find it himself.”
The next evening, instead of asking her mother to baby-sit for her while she helped Jared at the courthouse, she drove Peggy over to stay with her friend, Christa.
White Dove's Promise Page 12