White Dove's Promise

by Stella Bagwell

  “Don’t worry about the two of us,” Christa told Kerry as the two women stood in the living room of Christa’s apartment. “We’re going to have great fun with some new acrylic paints I just bought.”

  Before her marriage had crumbled, Christa had longed to have a baby of her own. Since that wish hadn’t materialized, the other woman always jumped at the chance to spend time with Peggy. And thankfully, Peggy was already ready to visit her “aunt” Christa.

  Kerry groaned good-naturedly. “It’s a good thing I let her wear an old T-shirt and shorts. Just don’t let her smear the stuff in her hair. It’s just now growing out from the wad of bubble gum I had to cut from the back.”

  Christa laughed. “I’ll tie a kerchief around her head.”

  Glancing at her watch, Kerry said, “I’ll be back to pick her up by nine.”

  “Like I said, we’ll be fine,” Christa assured her as she followed her friend to the door.

  “Thanks, Christa, you’ve saved me from having another round with my mother.”

  The young blonde shook her head with disapproval. “Kerry, I understand it’s financially better for you to live with your mother. But, believe me, money isn’t everything. I let Steven get away with thousands just to get rid of him. Your mother has no right to dictate who you see or where you go.”

  With a weary sigh, Kerry pushed a hand through her thick black hair. “I know, Christa. And one day soon I’m going to start making plans to move. But right now—well, Mother loves us. And we’re all she really has. She’s giving me problems about Jared because she’s afraid I’m going to get hurt.”

  Christa’s expression became knowing as she studied Kerry’s troubled face. “You are getting serious about the man, aren’t you?”

  Kerry opened her mouth to protest, but instead her shoulders slumped with defeat and she lowered her voice so it wouldn’t reach Peggy, who was sitting on the floor in front of Christa’s television.

  “I don’t know, Christa. I keep telling myself that the man is just a friend, but when I’m with him, I feel…more alive than I have in a long, long time.”

  Christa grinned and waggled her eyebrows. “I can see why. The man looks as sexy as sin.”

  “He is as sexy as sin. And Mom is probably right. I shouldn’t be spending time with him. But…”

  “But you want to,” Christa finished with a wicked wink.

  Nodding, Kerry let out a rueful sigh. “Do you think I’m crazy?”

  Christa’s playful grin suddenly sobered. “Look Kerry, as men go, we’ve both had a couple of losers in our lives. But I’ll be darned if I let Steven ruin the rest of my life. And you shouldn’t let Damon ruin yours. You need to get out and enjoy yourself. And as far as I can see, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying yourself with Jared.”

  Kerry glanced at Peggy to make sure she wasn’t picking up any of the conversation. It would be highly embarrassing if her daughter started repeating things to Jared.

  “Christa, the man is—or at least he was, a lady’s man. He probably changes his women each time he finishes a job. I can’t expect any more from him.”

  Christa looked at her closely. “Do you want more from him?”

  She did, damn it. Somehow, the man had worked his way under her skin. She was to the point where she needed to be with him. Just having him near, listening to his voice, seeing him smile, filled her whole being with joy. Now that he’d come into her life, she couldn’t imagine giving him up.

  “I’m afraid I do, Christa,” she whispered miserably. “And I know that’s crazy. Because I know Jared Colton. I’ve known him since I was a small girl. He used to be one of those reckless bad boys. You know, the kind that wore his hair just a tad too long and roared around the streets on a Harley.”

  “And the girls all swooned at his feet,” Christa added.

  Kerry nodded glumly. “And now I’m swooning when I should be running.”

  “Oh Kerry, you’re thinking about this in the wrong way. Jared is older now. He’s probably a changed man. And for all you know, he might be getting serious about you.”

  Kerry was suddenly remembering the embrace they’d shared on George WhiteBear’s porch. For the most part his kiss had been exciting and sexy. Yet underneath those things, she’d felt a tender desire that had caught her off guard and had almost made her believe he might care about her. Almost, but not quite.

  “Jared serious about me?” Her light laughter had nothing to do with being amused. “No, Christa. Jared is a man who likes to enjoy himself. And he likes female company. That’s all there is to it. And I’m not about to make the mistake of thinking otherwise.”

  Christa shook her head. “Kerry—”

  “I’ve got to go, Christa. Jared is probably waiting for me. I’ll see you about nine.”

  Before the other woman could say more, Kerry quickly blew a goodbye kiss to her daughter, then let herself out of the apartment.

  By the time Kerry parked next to Jared’s truck in the courthouse parking lot, he was waiting at her car door to greet her.

  The sight of his tall, muscular body dressed in jeans and a pale blue polo shirt stirred her senses, but it was the warm smile on his face that touched her heart and made her very, very glad to see him.

  “Six minutes late. I was beginning to think I was being stood up,” he said as she climbed out on the ground beside him.

  “Sorry. It took a few minutes to get away from Christa’s,” she explained, wondering what he would think if she told him that she and Christa had been discussing him. Probably give her a smug laugh, she thought.

  “You’re forgiven,” he said softly, then taking her by the shoulders he drew her into his arms.

  Kerry didn’t question or protest his actions. Instead, her heart drummed with eager anticipation as she lifted her face up to his.

  “Aren’t we supposed to be heading into the building?” she asked huskily.

  He lowered his head to hers. “First things first,” he whispered against her lips.

  Kerry was helpless to resist the desire to taste his lips, to feel the warmth of his body firing hers. Mindlessly, she closed her eyes and lifted her arms to circle his neck. While his lips made a hungry foray of hers, she felt his hands roaming her back, her rib cage, then lower to where her waist curved to the top of her hips.

  Heat and need rushed through her like a bolt of lightning, making her cling to him like a wet, shivering puppy. She would have been happy to stand there kissing him forever, but after a few minutes he broke the contact of their lips and rested his forehead against hers.

  “I think we’d better go in before I forget why we’re here,” he murmured.

  He was right about that, she thought. One more minute and she wouldn’t have cared if they’d been standing in the middle of main street, just as long as he kept on making love to her.

  She drew in a ragged breath. “Uh—just a minute. I’d like to know what that little kiss was for?”

  His sexy grin flashed at her through the semidarkness. “I wasn’t aware that was a little kiss. You must be a hard woman to please. But believe me, it will be a joy trying.”

  She groaned at his nonsense and the desire still churning in the pit of her stomach. “That’s not what I meant. Why tonight? Now?”

  The grin of pleasure remained on his face. “When I drove you home last night, you jumped out of the truck so fast, I didn’t have the chance to get a hand on you. So I was making up for the loss now.”

  Kerry had made a quick exit last night. Mainly because she’d been afraid. Their private time together in the courthouse had heightened her senses and made her desperately aware of how much she wanted to get close to him. If she’d allowed him to kiss her, she might not have been able to stop herself from begging him for more. Even now she wanted to tell him to forget about the dusty documents inside the courthouse and take her to some hidden place where there was nothing but the two of them.

  Oh my, she was losing it, she thought desperately. Sh
e had to shake away this sensual spell he’d put over her, before she wound up being one more notch on the headboard of Jared Colton’s bed.

  “I see,” she said in a voice that still sounded breathless to her own ears. “And what makes you think you’re supposed to get a hand on me?”

  Chuckling, he curled one arm around her shoulders and began to guide her toward the back entrance of the building. “Great-grandfather George said the Great Spirit had made you for me. I can’t argue with that kind of reasoning.”

  “You told me that you Colton children don’t believe half of what George says. Why should you put any stock in that one prophetic statement?”

  His hand tightened on her shoulder. “Because this time I happen to agree with him.”

  Kerry was so stunned by his comment she couldn’t utter a word. But once she did collect herself, she decided the best thing she could do was let the whole thing slide.

  He probably sweet-talked every woman he’d ever wooed, she told herself. And as for George WhiteBear’s prediction, Jared probably considered the whole thing as nothing more than amusing words from an old, old man.

  Chapter Nine

  Inside the building, Kerry and Jared walked straight to the records room. After Jared had shut the blinds and turned on the light, the two of them went to the file cabinets and pulled all the documents they hadn’t had time to examine the night before.

  Once they’d taken seats at the table, Kerry asked, “Did you tell Bram that we thought someone was watching us last night?”

  “No. I tried to call him today while I was at work, but he was out of the office. I’ll catch him later. And maybe by then we’ll have something more concrete to tell him.” He glanced at her. “What did you tell your mother you were doing tonight?”

  Kerry’s gaze skittered away from his. “I told her the truth. That I was helping you with a family matter. She thinks I’m headed for a heartache by keeping company with you.”

  As soon as the words were out, Kerry bit down on her lip. She didn’t know what had made her say such a thing to him. After their little interlude in the parking lot, she’d intended to keep their conversation off the personal.

  “And what do you think?” he asked solemnly.

  “That I’m headed for a heartache,” she whispered hoarsely.

  “Oh Kerry.” With a shake of his head, he reached for her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. “I don’t know why you think I’m some evil snake out to bite you at any moment. I told you last night I wouldn’t harm a hair on your head.”

  The gentleness in his voice only made her throat tighten that much more. If this man loved her and left her as Damon had, she didn’t think she could live through it. Not a second time.

  “Not intentionally.”

  “Not in any way.”

  Her gaze dropped to the table top. “I’m not looking for fun and games, Jared. I’m not like you.”

  His brows inched upward over his gray eyes. “What makes you think I’m looking for fun and games?”

  One of her shoulders lifted and fell. She didn’t want to have this conversation with him. She’d only wind up humiliating herself and making him feel awkward.

  “As far as I know you’ve always lived that way.”

  His lips compressed to a thin line. “And you expect me to do what I’ve always done for the rest of my life? Did you ever think I might be ready for a change?”

  She couldn’t stop the faint flutter of hope in her heart. Lifting wide eyes to his, she said, “You’re still young, Jared. Being tied down with a family is not what you want.”

  “So you’re telling me that you know more about what I want, than I do myself.”

  He sounded irritated with her, but Kerry couldn’t help it. She had to be honest. She had to make it clear that she wasn’t in the market for an affair with him. No matter how sweet and wonderful it might be.

  Her head bobbed up and down. “I’m not that same naive young woman who used to waitress at Woody’s Café. I’ve learned not to believe everything a man says.”

  Jared’s nostrils flared with disgust as he studied her face. “Look Kerry, I’m not like Peggy’s father. If I had a child somewhere, she wouldn’t have to wonder where her father was or why he didn’t want her.”

  His bluntness reddened her cheeks. “I didn’t say you were like him. I meant—oh, I don’t want to talk about this, Jared. It’s…pointless.”

  Tearing her hand from his, she quickly jumped to her feet and walked over to stand in front of the room’s sole window. She was staring unseeingly at the closed blinds when she felt him move up behind her. His sigh was audible as he placed both his hands on the backs of her shoulders.

  “Kerry, I don’t know what you want me to say,” he said quietly. “I don’t know what you want from me.”

  Her eyes closed, she tried to swallow away the lump of tangled emotions in her throat. “Honesty, Jared. That’s what I really want.” She turned suddenly to face him, her eyes challenging him to open up to her. “So don’t tell me you’re looking at me with marriage on your mind. I won’t believe you.”

  His hands gently cupped the sides of her face. And in spite of her doubts about his feelings, his touch made her heart beat with excitement and joy.

  “Kerry, I’ll try to be as honest with you as I can be. But that’s hard to do when…I’m not sure—” He broke off with a shake of his head. “When I first saw you running up to me that evening when Peggy was lost, I was—well, shaken. Don’t ask me why. Because I can’t explain it. I only know I was very, very glad to see you and to learn that you were back in Black Arrow.” He grinned wryly as he added, “Don’t you remember me asking you for a date? Way back, after you just graduated high school?”

  If her face had been red before, she knew it was absolutely burning with color now. No doubt his hands could feel the heat traveling up her neck and into her cheeks.

  “Yes. I remember. But you dated many girls back then. I didn’t want to be just another number.”

  As Jared’s gaze slipped over her face, then settled on her chocolate brown eyes, he realized she’d never been just another girl to him. Nor could she ever be. Besides her dark beauty, there was something about her, a quiet, graceful dignity that pulled at him, that told him if she ever loved a man, it would be with a deep forever kind of passion.

  “I thought you didn’t like me,” he said.

  She couldn’t stop the faint smile that spread across her face. “I liked you. But I was very scared of you.”

  His brows lifted in question at the same time his hands decided to dig into her silky hair and push it back from her oval face. “Scared?”

  She nodded. “You were way too old and too sexy for me.”

  He chuckled softly. “Too old? I don’t like the sound of that. But the too sexy is flattering.”

  The nearness of his body tempted her to step forward and slide her arms around his waist, to bury her face against his chest and simply stand there until she’d drunk her fill of his male scent and the strong security of his body.

  “So you’re telling me you wanted to go out with me now, because I refused to date you back then.”

  His grin turned sheepish as he continued to play with her hair. “Something like that. You sorta squashed my pride back then. I thought catching your attention now would make up for your rejection.” His expression sobered as he brushed his fingertips against her cheek. “But I wasn’t counting on—liking you this much, Kerry.”

  Liking. To Kerry that was almost as important as loving and the idea that Jared might care that much for her, shook her through and through.

  “Jared—”

  “I know,” he gently interrupted. “You don’t put much stock in what I say. But you will. Sooner or later, I’ll make you believe in me.”

  He was tempting her to peek down a primrose path, to believe that something special could happen between them. Kerry desperately wanted to imagine the two of them together. Not for just a few da
ys or months, but forever. Yet at this moment, all she could envision was losing her heart to him, then watching him wave goodbye.

  “Maybe,” she murmured, then with a great breath, she ducked away from him and hurried toward the door. “I’m going to the rest room. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she tossed over her shoulder.

  In the shadowy hallway outside the door, Kerry walked until she found a ladies’ rest room. She didn’t really need to use the facilities, but she needed time to collect herself and try to remember what she was actually supposed to be doing here tonight. And it certainly wasn’t falling in love with Jared!

  After about six or seven minutes, Kerry decided enough time had passed for Jared to have gotten his mind off charming her and back onto the Colton family documents. She left the small cubicle and headed back to the records room.

  Somewhere along the hallway, the faintest scent of smoke caught her attention, making her pause long enough to glance over her shoulder and sniff.

  That wasn’t someone’s cigarette smoke filtering in from outside, she thought. It smelled like burning wood. Maybe someone in town had broken the rules and was burning a pile of brush in their yard, she thought.

  Deciding it was nothing, Kerry headed on down the hall, but ten steps later a strange crackling noise caused her to stop dead in her tracks.

  Quickly, she attempted to follow the sound and eventually found herself in front of a door marked County Tax Assessor. She twisted the knob. Locked! But the panel of wood felt warm to her hand and the hissing, sizzling sounds beyond it had to be fire!

  Adrenaline shoved her into overdrive and she raced the remaining distance to the records room. “Jared! Hurry,” she called to him from the doorway. “I think there’s a fire in the building!”

  Jumping up from his seat at the table, he hurried over to her. “Fire? What are you talking about?”

  Grabbing his arm, she tugged him out in the hallway. “In the room next to this one—at the Tax Assessor’s office! I smell smoke and the door feels hot!”