Deer hunters might be upset.
Hunters of men would be delighted.
FOURTEEN
If Daniel had thought he could get away with fooling Kaitlin he wouldn’t have divided the blanket evenly. Giving her the larger piece would have been a magnanimous gesture but getting that difference past her keen eyes and controlling nature would be next to impossible, so he made the split equal and added one of the reflective covers to hold in the heat.
Despite his plans to the contrary, he’d fallen asleep repeatedly during the day, thankful for the sunshine, the clearing hidden amid a thick stand of hickory and cedars, and the chance to rest and regain strength. Knowing Kaitlin would stay close to her truck to keep an eye on him gave him peace, too. She might be stubborn and opinionated but she was also smart and cautious. She wouldn’t wander away, even in the daytime.
Awaking from a deep sleep, he yawned and stretched. He’d rolled all the way onto his back before he realized there was far less pain in his leg. Either it was numb because of his sleeping position or it was actually getting better.
Her face peeked over the side of the truck bed. “Good morning.”
Daniel shaded his eyes to judge the position of the sun. “It looks more like late afternoon.”
“It is. How was your mattress?”
“Kind of itchy but a lot better than lying on cold metal,” he said, pretending to punch the cedar boughs she’d gathered to pad his makeshift pallet.
“If we’d brought a hatchet I could have cut better ones.”
“Hey, I was a sick man when I made that list. You can’t expect me to have thought of everything.” He flashed a wry smile so she wouldn’t make the mistake of taking him too seriously.
“You are looking better,” Kaitlin said. “How do you feel?”
“Hungry, for a change.”
One of her eyebrows lifted and she smiled. “Didn’t you find the insects hiding in your bed and snack on those? I was sure you would.”
“Thankfully, no.” Daniel pushed himself into a sitting position and stretched, arms overhead. “Umm. That sun feels good. Maybe we should skip sleeping tonight when it’s cooler and hit the road.”
“Only if you intend to drive,” Kaitlin replied, yawning. “I stood guard while you slept. I’d probably doze off at the wheel.”
“Fair enough. Want me to get up so you can lie here?”
“No, thanks. I prefer something a little less rustic.”
“It was good enough for me,” he teased.
“And I am delighted.” Another yawn. “Now that I know you’re better I think I’ll crawl into the front and take a little nap.”
“Okay by me. I’m actually feeling halfway human.”
“Keep taking your antibiotic, anyway,” Kaitlin said, “or the infection may flare up again.”
“Right.” He had begun sorting through her collection of freeze-dried meals. “Yum. What’ll it be? Macaroni and cheese or desiccated pot roast with gravy?”
“You’re going to heat water? Okay. I’ll help you build the fire so it doesn’t give off too much smoke.”
“Nope. Not this time. You got everything ready and I need to move around so my muscles don’t stiffen up.” Sliding off the tailgate he paused to check his balance. Yes, his leg hurt plenty. No, he was not going to admit it.
She’d paused by the open door to the truck cab. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.” Daniel made a silly face to reassure her and pointed. “Go. Sleep. I’ll wake you when it’s time to eat.”
A weary nod was the only answer he got. Watching her climb in and lie down he flipped her half of the blanket over his arm and hobbled around to hand it to her. “Here. Cover up with this, too.”
“Not cold,” Kaitlin murmured. Nevertheless, she took hold of one edge of the gray wool blanket and pulled it up over her shoulders.
Mission accomplished. Now he could take all the time he needed to gather up the dried wood and assemble the campfire. If Kaitlin had been watching he’d have felt he had to hurry to keep her from worrying. Since she wasn’t, he could do it in spurts, resting when necessary to prevent overdoing it.
Daniel silently laughed at himself. There he was, about as useless as the unloaded gun, worrying about keeping up appearances for her sake. She wasn’t going to think less of him if he showed temporary weakness, was she? Of course not. She’d already proved that when he’d had that vivid nightmare and awakened shouting.
“I’d better not forget that, either,” he cautioned himself. He was not only a cop, which posed enough problems, he was also damaged goods. The desire to defeat criminals had led to a mental breakdown that he might someday recover from. Or not. Either way, he’d still have the mind-set of a police officer, a man dedicated to righting wrongs no matter the cost.
The cost to myself, he added, ruing Kaitlin’s involvement in what should have been borne on his shoulders and his alone. It was the instinct to survive that had forced him to make tough choices, he reasoned. Looking back on everything that had brought him to this point, to this place with her, he didn’t see any alternatives that would not have led to his murder. It was as simple as that. And as complicated. She had been there at just the right time and he had grasped at the chance for survival.
Knowing her from their past encounter had helped, too, of course. As she’d said, she felt she owed him. That wasn’t how he saw their tenuous relationship, at least, not at this point.
So, Daniel asked himself, how do you feel about her?
He grimaced. Bent to add to the pile of firewood he was assembling. Explored his true feelings and was astounded. His jaw dropped. His head swiveled.
All he could do was stare at the truck where Kaitlin napped. That young woman already meant more to him than anyone he’d ever dated. Ever. How could that have happened? He and Kaitlin had only been together for a few days.
Daniel paused and sighed, then reached for another piece of dead wood. “It’ll be okay.”
The sound of his softly spoken words made no echo, yet they returned to him for repetition, to help him convince himself.
“It will be. It’ll be fine. This is almost over. Once she drives me the rest of the way, she’ll be done. We won’t ever have to see each other again.”
Truth rolled over his spirit like the fog of a dewy morning and penetrated to the bone.
“I’m right. I know I am. It will be for the best,” he insisted to himself, as if saying so would make it real enough to accept.
For once, he had to admit he didn’t want to be right. As impossible as it seemed, he wanted his future to include Kaitlin North. Somehow. Sometime.
A dry branch cracked in the distance. Daniel was startled from his doldrums to focus on the here and now.
That was what he must do, he concluded logically. No happy dreams mattered if the people involved weren’t alive to see them come to fruition.
Moving as fast as possible, he threw aside the wood and went to the truck, placing himself between the woods and the sleeping woman. Bare hands were no match for a rifle, but if it came to a confrontation he wasn’t going down without a fight.
Standing braced, the cane held high, he waited for the sound, any sound, to tell him whether his enemies had found them and were closing in. Except for birds and the occasional squirrel, the woods were silent.
* * *
It wasn’t the sun that woke Kaitlin, it was the smell of food. Because she’d hardly stirred once she’d fallen asleep, one arm had gone numb, not to mention a bothersome crick in her neck.
She pulled herself up by the steering wheel and scooted to the open door. “Um, is it dinnertime?”
“Almost.”
His smile warmed her to the core and set her heart racing. So what else is new?
Making a face and sliding all the way out, she paused to smooth her wrinkled
blue uniform pants. “I will sure be glad to get clean clothes.”
“Wear one of the new shirts you bought.”
“One is still damp from washing and you’re wearing the second, remember?”
“Vaguely. I’m not looking forward to all your stories of what I did while I was running that high fever.”
An idea made her chuckle.
“What’s so funny about a fever?”
“Nothing. I wasn’t laughing at that. It just occurred to me that I could tell you almost any wild story and make you believe you were out of your head and actually did it.”
“You won’t have to make anything up,” he countered. “The real thing is bad enough.”
“You’re still talking about your nightmare, aren’t you?” There was no doubt in her mind that that was exactly what was bothering him. Little wonder. He’d not only sounded frantic, he’d shown true fear, something a macho man like him would consider a major fault.
“Forget it. Come on over here and grab a fork. I can’t believe you thought to add this cooking set.”
“I was buying meals at the time. It made sense.”
“That doesn’t mean the average person, particularly one who had never camped, would have thought of it.”
“Or made the decision to amend your list,” she added with a grin. “See? There are advantages to my being such an independent woman.”
It pleased her to see him stifle a laugh. “Right, providing I can overlook the times you get yourself in serious trouble by thinking too much.”
“I don’t think too much,” Kaitlin said, reaching for the plate he was handing her. “I act too much. If all I did was come up with a wild idea and keep it to myself, you won’t have a clue how helpful I can be.”
“Well, start being helpful by eating that before the odor of cooking draws bears.”
“I thought they were afraid of fire.”
“Up to a point. They also love to raid camps and steal food that smells good to them.”
“Then we should be eating granola bars,” she quipped.
“Oh, they’d probably like those, too. They just wouldn’t discover them inside a tight wrapper.” He gestured. “I’m serious. Eat.”
Kaitlin almost saluted with her fork and got gravy in her hair. She giggled and took a bite. “This tastes better than it looks. Pot roast?”
“That’s what the label said. I wasn’t sure when I first opened the package but the hot water helped a lot.”
“I think I like it.”
“Yeah, me, too.” Daniel was stirring his meal with a small fork and inspecting it closely. “Although I suspect it’s more pot than roast.”
That brought a mutual laugh that lifted Kaitlin’s spirits. A nap had been beneficial, too. “Well, whatever it is, it hits the spot. I didn’t know how hungry I was until I woke up and smelled it.”
“Maybe you’re part bear.”
“More likely I’ve been eating too many nuts and berries and, as you said, need real food.”
“I wasn’t putting down your choices,” he said.
“I know. You were just wondering if you were going to starve before we got all the way to St. Louis.”
“Something like that.”
Good humor waning, Daniel had turned his full attention to poking at his gravy-covered meal. Clearly, he’d been happier not thinking about what might lay ahead. But somebody had to. There was going to be more to their arrival in the city than he’d revealed so far and Kaitlin wanted to know everything. Logically, if he truly did admire her intelligence he wouldn’t keep her in the dark. On the other hand, if he continued to refuse to give a full explanation she’d have to assume his praise was false.
Watching him finish eating, wipe the fork clean and toss the cardboard container into the fire, Kaitlin did the same. “Sorry about forgetting marshmallows.”
Daniel huffed. “No problem.”
“I have a different problem,” she began, hoping he’d encourage her to share her thoughts.
“Oh?”
She was nodding. “Yes. I want to know more about what you expect when we get to your chief. We need to plan.”
“Can’t,” Daniel said gruffly as he poked the fire embers with a short piece of broken tree limb.
“Why not?” Ready to let her temper show if that was what it took, she sat back on her haunches and glowered at him.
“Because I don’t have a clue what we’ll find once we get there. The hardest part will be figuring out who to trust. Ideally, I need to get past everybody at headquarters, if possible, and reach Chief Broderhaven without alerting the whole station to my presence.”
“Sounds impossible. They all know you, don’t they?”
“It may be worse than that,” he said. “When we first figured out why Levi was killed, the chief decided to announce that I was a person of interest in that shooting. The idea was to confuse my gang connection in the hope they’d back off.”
“And they didn’t.”
“I have no way of knowing. The price on my head is plenty of incentive to keep a lot of them searching.”
“What are you worth, anyway?” As soon as he named a sum she reacted exactly as she’d planned no matter what he said. “Way too low. I’m sure you’re worth at least three times that.”
Daniel huffed. “Nice to know somebody appreciates me.”
“Always have, always will,” Kaitlin told him. “Okay, I believe you about St. Louis. We’ll play it by ear.”
“No, I will. Cop stuff, remember? I’m the boss.”
A sidelong glance told her how serious he was about going in by himself. She wasn’t going to waste breath arguing. Not yet. When the time came, however, she intended to have some kind of alternate plan ready, even if it wasn’t fleshed out. After all they had been through together so far, there was no way she was going to drop him off at his headquarters and drive away.
In the meantime, they’d need to pass the time without touching on subjects that might cause dissention. That wasn’t going to be easy when she knew so little about his private life. One question that had been nagging her was his personal attachments—or the lack thereof. Asking might be awkward. Not asking set her up for the ultimate in awkwardness. The more she pondered her most secret thoughts regarding this enigmatic man, the closer she came to letting herself dream.
In a way, Kaitlin almost hoped he’d dash those hopes with his answer to, “So, tell me more about yourself. I know Letty disappointed you terribly. Have you replaced her yet?”
A slight shift of his shoulders and a telling gaze proved that she’d erred. Since it was already too late to withdraw her query she decided to pursue it. “Are you seeing someone else?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened, the clenching of the muscles unmistakable by firelight. “No. Are you?”
There was no verbal reply that wasn’t mortifying so Kaitlin merely shook her head. If she’d said she was, he’d likely have asked for a man’s name and the only one she could give, the only one that mattered even a smidgen, was Daniel Ryan.
Standing, she dusted off her clothing and did her best to look presentable before turning on her heel and heading for the truck. She had a hairbrush in her purse. And lipstick, although this cooler weather probably called for lip balm, instead.
Her idea of a perfect evening was one spent curled up in a comfy chair with a good book or maybe watching a little TV. Mysteries were her favorites. Facing those kinds of dangers in real life, however, was not the same. Not even close.
There had been instances when reading a book gave her mild jitters or a movie scene startled her enough to make her jump, but that was totally different from her life since meeting Daniel again.
This time the blood was real. The hit men were real. The guns held real bullets and the sound of a close shot was enough to make her ears hurt.
That wasn’t all that hurt, either, she admitted as she climbed back into the cab of the truck and gathered her piece of blanket close for its emotional comfort as well as warmth. Her heart was breaking for him.
Kaitlin wrapped the blanket tighter, pulling her thoughts in with it. Daniel was in trouble so she’d continue to help him. Once the threats had been neutralized and he no longer needed her, she’d head for home without a backward glance and he probably wouldn’t miss her.
A solitary tear slid down her cheek. She swiped it away. Her eyes might not look back when she left him in St. Louis but her heart was going to keep seeing his image as long as she lived. That wasn’t a vow. It was reality.
Kaitlin didn’t intend to brood if she could help it but she knew herself, inside and out. Somehow, she was going to have to find a way to keep track of him, to be certain he was alive and well whether he ever found out or not.
She shivered and gazed over at him, still hunching over the dying fire with his back to her. He had to make it through this. He had to. If anything bad happened to him she was certain she would be ready to curl up and die, too.
That conclusion made her angry, mostly at herself. Where was the strong woman who answered emergency calls and did all she could to save lives? Huh? What had happened to the Kaitlin North who prided herself on her hard-won independence?
What she wanted to do at that moment was vent with a wordless shout that rattled the truck windows. Instead, she sighed and shook her head. That Kaitlin, that courageous, self-confident EMT, soon to become a paramedic, had made one little mistake that had ruined everything.
How? The answer was easy. “By falling in love.”
FIFTEEN
Rather than waste precious water by dousing the fire, Daniel had sat by it until the last embers died, then stirred them to make sure they wouldn’t rekindle.
Under almost any other circumstances he’d be sitting there with his arm around Kaitlin’s shoulders, telling her what a wonderful companion she was and suggesting they get together when all this was over, notwithstanding the fact that they lived and worked on opposite sides of the state.
Marked For Revenge (Emergency Responders Book 2) Page 13