by Sara Orwig
Fire trucks were in the yard, and Rebecca was thankful again that she had remained inside the city limits, where they could get the fire trucks out quickly. Firemen moved around, and she wondered if any of Dan’s friends were out there, but doubted it.
Police cars were parked all over the drive and yard, and an official-looking white truck was parked near the barn. She wished she could join them and hear what was being said, but knew Jake would want her and the girls to stay in the house. One media truck was in the yard.
Tara must have spotted it at the same time she did.
“Will we be on the news, Mom?”
“We might,” Rebecca answered.
“Can I go out there and maybe get in the picture?”
“Not yet, Tara. Jake said we should stay in the house. It’s safer here.”
Rebecca’s gaze swept up the road away from the barn, and she noticed a police car parked on the drive with a man seated inside, and she guessed he was there to watch the house while Jake was with the others.
She realized she was stroking Tara’s head all the time she was looking out the window.
She thought about Jake yelling at the girls, taking time to grab them both up and holding her arm before he started out of the barn. He had taken the time to get them out with him, risking his life for them without hesitation.
She closed her eyes, knowing that she would always be grateful. And yet this reinforced her opinion about not getting involved with a man with a dangerous occupation. She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself and closing her eyes. She did not want to fall in love with a man who had to deal over and over with men like Lenny Meskell. Never!
Deep inside, she hurt, because she knew Jake already had won a bit of her heart and she was going to miss him. When he took her to her room a short time ago and pulled her into his arms, it had been like coming home to security and love. But he thrived on danger, and it was too much for her. She knew the only reaction he was having to the bomb was rage. He wasn’t frightened or shaken or repulsed.
She turned away to start something for dinner, wishing she could busy herself enough to get her mind off what had happened. In minutes she had cut strips of chicken breast and sliced vegetables, preparing everything for a stir-fry that wouldn’t heat the house or take long when the time came.
After getting the food cut and washed and back in the refrigerator, she asked Tara to set the table.
After an hour, Rebecca went to the front room to watch the news, and Tara came in and plopped down on the floor. “Will we be in the news?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t been so far.”
They watched until the end of the program, and nothing was on about the explosion.
“We weren’t in the news,” Tara said, disappointment filling her voice. “Isn’t a bomb important?”
“It’s very important, but they might think in the interest of our security it would be better not to have what happened on the news.”
“I don’t see that it would make any difference. It’s over now.”
“It might cause a lot of curious people to drive by to look. The police would have more to deal with about our security. Maybe they don’t want Lenny Meskell to know what happened today.”
“Why not?”
“They might prefer for him to wonder about it. He might do something to try to find out, like come by the house.”
Tara turned to look at her. “In the house?”
“No, just drive by on the road, but if he does, they'll arrest him.”
“How would they know?”
“They're watching the road for him. And I think he always steals the cars he drives.”
“Do the police know when a stolen car goes past?”
“Yes. Since they're watching, they can find out quickly by checking the license number.”
Rebecca heard a deep male voice and stood, heading down the hall as Jake came in. His gaze raked over her, and he smiled. The rage had gone out of his eyes.
“Better?” he asked quietly.
“Yes, I am,” she answered, her pulse jumping as if all her decisions about wanting to avoid getting involved with him meant nothing.
“The girls seem to be taking it in stride.”
“Better than I will.”
“Some of the people are still out there. They'll check things over for a while. We'll have more cops around the place tonight. You're top-priority right now,” he said softly.
“I don’t know if that’s a plus.”
“Well, you can relax. There are cops behind every tree at the moment.”
“But I'm still a prisoner in my own house, while Lenny Meskell can build bombs—”
“Hey,” Jake said, placing his hands on her shoulders.
“I'm all right, Jake. Just angry. And I can’t stop thinking about the danger the girls were in. When I do, I get frightened again.”
“Chin up. When he finds out this didn’t work, he may come out in the open.”
“That’s not necessarily good news.”
“It is to me,” Jake said grimly. “I'm going to bathe and get rid of the dirt. Tara asked me if I had a souvenir of the bomb.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake—”
“I don’t,” he said, grinning with a flash of white teeth, “because the department hauled away every last scrap they could find, but she’s enjoying herself at the moment.”
“I know, and I'm glad. I'll get dinner.”
“If you'll wait until I shower, I'll get dinner.”
She studied him, determined to keep the barriers up around her heart. “All right. I'll take you up on the offer.”
His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at her, and she turned away.
Jake had clean jeans, T-shirt, socks and briefs in his hand. He went to bathe, knowing Rebecca was shaken. And he knew the barricades around her heart were up again.
And maybe it was better for both of them, because if he fell in love with her and asked her to marry him, she would have to accept him as he was. He couldn’t give up his job, yet he was beginning to be unable to imagine life without Rebecca.
He stripped and stepped into the shower, feeling water sting his back. Pulling aside the shower curtain to look in the small mirror over the sink, he saw the cut across his shoulder. There was another one low on his back and one on his cheek, but they were all just scratches.
He shaved and finally dressed in his jeans and a T-shirt.
He put his other clothes in the washer and turned it on, crossing the kitchen. The girls had gone to watch television, finally settling back into their routine. Rebecca was stirring something that smelled delicious as he walked up behind her.
He placed his arms around her waist. “I don’t know which smells better, you or dinner. On second thought, I think you definitely do,” he said, brushing his lips across her nape.
Rebecca closed her eyes. Her body tingled and warmed, and his arms around her felt so right, but she couldn’t erase the moments in the barn.
“Jake, don’t, please,” she whispered, afraid to turn around, because if she did her resolve might vanish.
He moved her away gently, reaching around to take the big wooden spoon from her hand. “Whatever the lady wants,” he said solemnly. “But I did promise to cook dinner, so you should have waited and let me do it all.”
He stirred and glanced at her to find her studying him as if some inner battle were being waged inside her. “I'm off-limits again,” he said finally.
“Yes. I can’t live with risking my heart to a man who lives like you do. I told you I couldn’t. And you don’t really want me to, anyway. You're not a marrying man, as I recall.” She moved away from him and he let her go.
He stirred the pan and studied her as she stood with her back to him and filled glasses with water. He knew he was falling in love with the woman, whether it was wise or not.
Chapter 12
As they ate, she seemed to relax, and after dinner he shooed them from the kitchen a
nd cleaned up. While he worked, his cellular phone rang. He answered to hear Richard Vance’s voice.
“Wanted to check on things.”
“The place is swarming with FBI, as well as your people.”
“Just want to make it tight tonight. Tomorrow we'll go back to the regular surveillance.”
“Yeah. That package shouldn’t have ever gotten into her hands. After this, I screen the mail. Lenny’s changed his M.O.”
“He must have discovered the stakeouts. I'm moving them again, but there will still be a man to the north of the house in the woods, one to the south, one to the west and one a little farther away to the east, because there’s no close cover there.”
“Thank heaven for small favors.”
“How are the widow and kids?”
“The kids are fine. Disappointed it wasn’t all on the tube. The widow is fine, but having something come that close to her kids really shook her.”
“Still want to stay out there?”
There was a momentary pause, but not because Jake wanted to be relieved. “You can’t imagine how much I’d like to get Meskell. Yes, I want to stay.”
“Well, today you showed you still have a cool head.”
“I should have intercepted the package before it ever got to her.”
“You didn’t know, and Meskell’s never been that subtle before. If you can call a bomb being subtle. I think he was ready to move, somehow made the stakeout and pulled back. He sent the bomb. Now, you tell me, what’s his next move? You think like he does.”
“Thanks a hell of a lot,” Jake said, but his mind was already running over what Meskell might do, and he had thought about it while he was in the shower.
“Are you keeping it out of the media?”
“Yes, and they've agreed to cooperate.”
“If I were the one who had sent that bomb, I’d want to know if it did the job.”
“So how would you find out?”
“Meskell can watch the obituaries, but I don’t think he’s into that.” Vance waited in silence while Jake thought. “I think he'll make a pass of the house. He'll want to see what’s out here.”
“We agree with you. We think he'll go past on that road in front of her house so he can see which cars are at her place.”
“And when he can’t tell from that, I think he'll come after her if he has to come cross-country.”
“You didn’t think he’d do that before.”
“I would bet next month’s pay that Meskell’s patience is gone.”
“Yeah, so keep up your guard. We're giving him about forty-eight hours. Hopefully, we can pick him up when he drives past to check out the place.”
“Sometime tomorrow.”
“Jake, there’s something else.”
“What?” Jake asked, suddenly wary.
“A convenience store was hit on the south side of town today, and then a bank. Sixteen thousand dollars was taken from the bank. The jobs fit Meskell’s M.O.”
“Dammit. He'll have enough money to do whatever he wants now.”
“With sixteen thousand, he could stop stealing cars.”
“He can, but he won’t,” Jake replied tersely. “He’s pushing his luck, and we'll get him.”
“One more thing—we have an informant, and he’s trying to keep in touch with Meskell.”
“That’s great.”
“If our guy can, he'll let us know when Meskell makes his move.”
“I hope it’s soon.”
“I'll keep in touch.” The connection was broken, and Jake put the phone on the counter. He looked out the window across a yard bathed in the glow of a setting sun. It looked peaceful until he saw the blackened boards and smoldering rubble of the barn and garage. A fire truck was still parked in front of the barn, and he knew one would return again later for a final check to make certain the last embers had burned out.
He glanced toward the door to the living room and felt a tightness in his chest. He was in love with the woman. When he thought of marriage now, he didn’t have any qualms. But he knew that if he married, he wanted a wife who loved him and accepted him as he was. And that might not be possible with Rebecca.
He thought about changing jobs or retiring and he knew he couldn’t do it. He liked his work. He was meant for this sort of job.
Forget the lady, he told himself. She was as off-limits now as she had been the first hour of his arrival. Common sense said to forget her before she became impossible to forget, but he suspected it was far too late for that.
If he tried, how long would it take to get over her? It shouldn’t be long or too devastating when they had known each other a short time and there had been no real intimacy between them. He had a feeling that he was wrong—in spades.
He wiped the counter swiftly and headed for the front of the house.
He found her sitting in the living room, working a puzzle with the girls, when he stepped to the door. “I'm going out to talk with McCauley. There are plenty of men around here, so everyone will be all right.”
Rebecca nodded and Jake left, moving across the yard in the dusk, pulling out his radio to talk to McCauley and learning he was with the firemen.
Jake circled the house once, trying to think what he would do if he were Meskell. It was hell to get past surveillance, but not impossible on a dark night. He would come at night. But how could he get inside her house without everyone hearing him?
Jake’s thoughts shifted to Rebecca again. He loved the woman. It was as simple as that. And it seemed so damned right. Right for him. He would have to become a super salesman to convince her it was right for her. So much for his plans to wait until he retired for marriage. He was in love, madly and hopelessly, and the more he thought about it, the more certain he became about his feelings.
He circled the house, knowing he’d better get his mind back on Meskell and off Rebecca until this was over. He had probably been thinking more about her long legs this afternoon than he had her mail. He turned to walk down to the barn.
* * *
That night, after Rebecca put the girls to bed, she returned to the living room. Both air conditioners were going and the house was reasonably cool.
She moved across the room and sat in the chair, looking at the television as if it were of great interest—something she had never done before. Jake was sprawled on the sofa, and he was watching her. She was hunched forward, her fingers locked together in her lap, and she was ignoring him completely.
Standing, Jake crossed the room to the television, leaned down and switched it off. He received a startled glance and then a frown as he walked over to her.
While Rebecca watched him stride toward her with a purposeful gleam in his eye, her heart began to thud. Without a word, he leaned down to pick her up in his arms.
Her pulse jumped, and she folded her hands primly on her knees, as if she wanted to avoid touching him. “Jake, put me down. What are you doing?”
He crossed the room and sat down on the sofa, settling her in his lap. “I'm holding you. That’s all, Rebecca. It’s nothing earthshaking. It doesn’t mean commitment. It’s just something I want to do, and you look like you need someone to hold you for a little while. You're still in shock, whether you realize it or not.”
Rebecca knew she should get up and move away from him. She didn’t want to like being in his arms, but she couldn’t move. He tightened his arm around her waist and stroked her hair, and she felt the tingles on her scalp that radiated through her.
“Just relax, honey,” he said quietly. “I won’t do any more than this, but you've been a bulwark all afternoon and night for the girls. Now you need a little care yourself, so let me do it.”
She sat stiffly on his lap, her hands still on her knees. Words failed her, because everything was bottled up inside. She felt tense, wanting to keep a wall between them. She wasn’t going to let Jake charm his way into her heart again.
“You're a great mom, Rebecca, and the girls got through the whole orde
al in pretty damn good shape.”
“You’d make a good father, Jake,” she said stiffly without looking at him.
“Thanks,” he commented dryly. “I've been a dad since I was nine years old.”
“Zach lives in Round Rock, and you said another brother works at a bank in Austin. What about the third brother?”
“Bill lives in Cedar Springs and sells farm machinery,” he said, answering her questions. She was as tense as a coiled spring and she avoided his eyes when she spoke. Her voice had the polite tone of someone conversing with a complete stranger, and he knew he had a long way to go to coax her back to the place they’d been before the bomb.
They were silent a moment while he stroked her hair.
“Someday when this is over,” Jake said, “you can take the girls out to my ranch and take them horseback riding. I'll be at work, but I can give you the name of my foreman, and he'll get gentle horses. There’s a small mare Sissy can ride. Puff is the laziest horse on this earth, and great with children. And if Sissy doesn’t want to ride alone, she can double up with Tara.”
His voice was soothing, and his hand moved through Rebecca’s hair and then down to massage her back. His arm was still around her waist.
“Come on, honey, ease up a little,” he said quietly, pulling her over against his chest and continuing to stroke her back.
She leaned against him, and in the cool living room the warmth of his body felt good. And his strong arm holding her felt good.
“Put your head on my shoulder. Relax. I won’t do anything.”
She did what he told her, and she listened to him talk in his deep, steady voice while the tenseness gradually left her and she relaxed, but she kept her hands folded in her lap, trying to avoid touching him, trying to keep from responding, wishing her pulse hadn’t quickened when he picked her up.
He finally became silent and sat quietly stroking her back, still keeping one arm firmly around her waist.
“I'm afraid that when I close my eyes, Jake, and go to sleep, I'll have nightmares about today. What’s worse is, I'm afraid Sissy and Tara will have nightmares. Sissy was just beginning to get over the ones about losing her father.”