by Sara Orwig
“There’s a point of no return.”
“If we get there, then I won’t want to stop, either. But we’re not going to get there, Josh, because I don’t want to go home to Kansas City and leave my heart back here in Texas.”
“And I don’t want you to take my heart away with you.”
“That’s impossible. You’ve made that all too clear.”
He picked up the phone and began to punch numbers. In a few minutes he handed the phone to her, too aware when his fingers brushed hers. He still simmered with desire, wanting her, thinking about seduction, knowing he should focus his thoughts elsewhere. A model. He should have guessed. In fact, the possibility had occurred to him. A woman as beautiful as Laurie had to be an actress or a model or a singer. Even though he knew he should keep his hands to himself, he couldn’t resist reaching for a lock of her hair.
Laurie’s pulse raced in anticipation as she listened to the phone ring.
A woman answered and Laurie gripped the phone tightly. “Emily?”
“Ivy? Thank goodness! Is that you?”
Chapter 12
L aurie closed her eyes with relief and ignored the tears that spilled from her eyes.
“Ivy, are you all right? Where have you been?”
“It’s a long story, but I’ve had amnesia.”
“Amnesia! Talia and I have been wild with worry. We finally filed a missing-person report yesterday.”
“Why did you wait so long?”
“You asked me to, remember? You made me promise not to do anything if I didn’t hear from you. Where are you? How’d you get amnesia? Do you know how long it’s been since we’ve heard from you?”
Laurie laughed as the questions spilled out without giving her time to answer them. “Emily, listen. Let me tell you what happened and what I know. First I have to tell you— I was in a car wreck and haven’t remembered anything until today. Yesterday, actually.”
Hearing the excitement in her voice, Josh felt a pang. As he listened to her, he knew that with each second that passed he was losing her. But then he’d never really had her, not in any real sense. Yet how he was going to miss her! He didn’t want to think about coming back to the empty ranch house when she was gone. That startled him, because never before had he thought of the ranch house as empty, or lonely.
“I have so much to tell you. I just got my memory back. I’m in Texas. Ivy, am I married or do I have a boyfriend?” After a pause, she said, “Really?”
Josh wondered what that comment was about, but she didn’t discuss a man, so maybe there was none in her life. But it didn’t matter. There was another vast, unbridgeable chasm between them, and she was not going to be a part of his life much longer. And even if she were plain Jane Doe, with no life to go back to, that still wouldn’t change how he felt about lasting relationships or marriage. It wasn’t for him.
He listened to her account of everything that had happened, including some talk about him that made him want to leave the room.
“He’s tough and reliable and he’s armed.”
Josh shot her a look and shook his head, standing to leave the room, but she motioned for him to stay.
He sank down again and listened to her relate more of what had happened to her, and then as she talked, he heard uncertainty in her voice. He reached for the phone.
“Laurie, let me talk to your sister.”
She glanced at him and said, “Emily, this is Josh Kellogg.” Laurie held out the phone.
“Thank you for all you’ve done for my sister,” said a woman with a whiskey voice. “It sounds as if she wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been for you.”
“Look, she’s still in danger. That hasn’t changed. This is as good a place as any for her to hide until this is over. Until they catch the guy, he’s going to come after her again, and when he does, she’s safer here with me.”
“It puts you in danger,” she said.
“I don’t care about that, and I’d like to catch the guy. I’m having alarms installed and I’ll be her bodyguard. Would you like to come visit so you can see her?”
“I want to see her, but I want much more for her to be safe. If she’s better off without seeing me, so be it.”
“He already knows where she is. He shot at her a few hours back, but she’s okay.” Josh saw Laurie waving her hands at him, trying to get him to stop telling her sister about the shooting.
“Oh, my heavens! A few hours ago? That rules out our prime suspect, because he was on the news tonight at a gala. He certainly wasn’t in Texas. Maybe we’ve been looking in the wrong direction.”
“She told me about her condo burning.”
“That and the time someone tried to run her down.”
Josh glanced at Laurie. “I don’t think she remembers that yet. I’ll let you talk to her about it.” He handed the phone to Laurie. As she talked, he leaned down to nuzzle her neck. Her voice dropped a note and she wriggled away, twisting around to give him a look.
“Talk as long as you want,” he whispered. “I’m going to mosey around outside and see what I can see.”
Picking up his jacket, he left. The chilly night air was refreshing and he stretched his legs, moving swiftly toward the barn, drifting into shadows and walking over his land, watching for anything amiss. The boys kept the dogs with them at night, but they should turn them out instead, he decided. Hopefully, the dogs would bark at a stranger. His dogs were pets. They weren’t ferocious guard dogs. It had never been important before.
A model whose family owned a successful chain of restaurants… How long would it take him to forget her? He suspected the rest of his life.
He told himself that she wasn’t vital to his well-being. They hadn’t known each other long. Or intimately. He would forget with time.
Like hell he would.
He put off going back inside, finally stopping in the oak grove far from the house. He stood in the shadows, watching and listening for anything unusual. His skin prickled. Why did he feel something was amiss? Was it a gut instinct? Was it because he was upset over Laurie, anyway? Was it the quiet, dark night? He rejected the last, because he had camped out on many quiet dark nights and never felt the unease he did now.
He moved closer to the trunk of a tree, easing between low branches and then standing absolutely still. He heard a noise and held his breath, wishing he had thought to bring his pistol, but it was locked away in his office.
Hairs rose on his arms, and he felt as if someone were watching him. His gaze moved slowly around the area. He scanned the branches above him, but saw nothing amiss. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. He had no idea how long he stood quietly waiting, but he heard nothing unusual. The normal night rustlings continued, uninterrupted.
Finally he headed back, walking much more cautiously than when he had come out, staying in dark shadows. He was careful with each step, trying to make the least noise possible, still straining to hear any strange sounds.
He worked his way back to the barn and slipped inside one of the open doors. In the darkness he stood waiting, just as he had outside.
He had no idea how long he stood in the barn, but he couldn’t hear or see anything amiss. It was empty; all the animals were outside.
He eased toward the bunkhouse and saw it was dark. The men had gone to bed, and he knew the dogs were inside with them or else he would have seen them by now. They didn’t roam too far from home.
He headed toward the house, and as he neared the porch, he was momentarily startled to see a figure there. Then he saw golden hair, pale in the darkness, and his pulse jumped with eagerness.
He climbed the steps. “What are you doing out here in the cold?”
“It’s not that cold, and I was watching for you. Where have you been?”
“Looking around.” He kept his voice low and turned to look behind him, still feeling uneasy.
“What is it?” she whispered.
“I don’t know. Something just
doesn’t feel right.”
“Now you’re scaring me.”
“You’re in a white sweater that’s way too visible. So is your hair. Go inside, Laurie.”
He heard a slight shuffle and then heard the back door. He turned to follow her, but stopped in the darkest part of the porch and stood still, his gaze searching the yard. He was still uneasy. It could be his imagination after the incident earlier, but he still felt as if someone was out there. He needed those damned alarms installed, plus yard lights.
Reluctantly, he turned and went inside. Laurie sat at the kitchen table, her eyes wide. He knew he had scared her, but she needed to be more careful.
“Don’t go outside like that again.”
She nodded. “Sorry. It was dark and I didn’t think my cardigan or my hair would show that much. I was worried about you. Did you carry a gun?”
“No. It’s here in the house.”
“You think someone is watching the ranch?”
“I don’t know. I’ve prowled all around the place and into the barn, and couldn’t find anything amiss. Want something to drink?”
“Pop would be good,” she said absentmindedly. “Should you call the sheriff?”
“Nope, not until morning. There’s nothing to call him about. We’re locked in and I’m with you. Relax.” Josh poured glasses of pop over ice, and together they went to the family room to sit on the sofa. He turned to face her. “Now, tell me what Emily said.”
“She isn’t coming here because I think it might put her in danger.”
“You’re right. If the motive is what you think—Carter’s jealousy over your inheritance—then you’re really the only one the killer wants, but she could be caught in the backlash.”
Taking a long drink of pop, Laurie set her glass on the coffee table. Forgetting her fear, she smiled at him, her eyes sparkling. She looked radiant, he decided. “That was wonderful and weird at the same time, because I still have gaps in my memory. But now I know that I have a family, and I know why they didn’t come searching for me! I’ve felt unloved and unwanted and alone, and if it hadn’t been for you, I would have really been unhappy.”
He arched an eyebrow. “I’m sure you haven’t had a day of your life when you were unloved and unwanted, and probably not too many when you were alone.”
She laughed, and he ached to pick up her and hold her and kiss her. Instead, he sat quietly, waiting to hear all she had to tell him.
“When I left Kansas City, I asked Emily not to expect to hear from me. After the car incident, I fled.”
“What car incident?”
“After the fire at my condo, I hired a bodyguard, because I was scared. One morning as I was going to work, a car tried to run me down. The bodyguard pushed me out of the way and took the hit. It put him in the hospital, and that’s when I figured I should leave town and sell the agency.”
“You’re selling your agency?” Josh asked in surprise, wondering what she planned to do.
“I don’t remember that part of it, but Emily told me. I hope these gaps fill in soon.”
“They will. Look how far you’ve already come.”
“I know. Anyway, when I left Kansas City, I made Emily promise not to look for me, but to wait until I contacted her. Talia made the same promise.”
“There you are—a good reason why they didn’t search for you. You didn’t want the publicity or to stir anyone up. With your background, if they had reported you missing it could easily have become big news.”
“I never thought about asking my family to keep quiet if I disappeared.”
“Did she know where you were going or what you were going to do when you left Kansas City?”
“Yes. We have a family home out of Seattle. I remember it now.”
“See there?” he said, smiling at her, and she stuck her tongue out at him.
“Don’t say I told you so,” she said.
“I didn’t say it even though I did tell you,” he teased. “Go on.”
“I was going to try to hide there. I would have been all alone, and it’s very quiet and peaceful.”
“How’d you get down to Texas if you left Kansas City for Seattle?”
“I remember that, too. I travelled around a good part of the United States to make certain no one was following me.”
“Ah, good for you.”
“Emily said I was checking in with her nearly every day until I reached Houston, and then she never heard from me until today. They kept waiting, knowing I had asked them not to search for me, and finally, yesterday, they went to the police. We should get a call from your local sheriff, because if they are keeping up with the missing-person reports, they’ll recognize my description.”
“I’m going to call him early, anyway.” Josh took a sip of his pop. “So what about your parents?”
“I’m the youngest of three sisters. Our mother died when we were young. Our father died three years ago. We inherited the family business together—a chain of restaurants being run by my sister Emily. Our middle sister, Talia, is a news anchor in Chicago. Emily said that over a year ago I inherited the modeling agency, where I’ve worked since high school.”
“Wow. Impressive family.”
“My sisters are nice.”
“Now you have answers to all your questions. No boyfriend? No husband?”
“Nope. Emily said I didn’t have time in my life for men.”
At one time that answer would have thrilled him, but it didn’t now. “Right after you asked about a man in your life, you said, ‘Really?’ What was that all about?”
“There’s someone I date occasionally, and according to Emily, I only think of him as a good friend and he’s boring. She thinks he’s adorable.”
“So I can seduce you with a clear conscience?”
She gave a throaty laugh and slanted him a mischievous look. “Maybe I’ll seduce you first.”
“There’s a threat I like.” He set down his drink and reached for her. She slipped away and stood.
“Not yet, cowboy. Let’s go look on the Internet at the Kansas City newspapers and see what we can find out about Carter Dahl.”
They went to Josh’s office, where Laurie sat in front of the computer and did the search while he pulled up a chair beside her. He draped his arm over the back of her chair and in seconds, shifted his attention from the screen to her. A model who owned an agency. From a successful family of women who had inherited their father’s business. Sophisticated, wealthy and completely off-limits.
Yet how he wanted her! He studied her flawless skin, her profile, her thickly lashed eyes. Her hair spilled over her shoulders and back, and he couldn’t resist picking up strands and twisting them through his fingers. She glanced at him with curiosity in her eyes, but her attention was on the computer and she turned back to it swiftly.
Though he wanted to lean the few inches necessary and brush kisses across her nape, he knew he had to leave her alone. How many times was he going to have to remind himself?
“Here he is,” she said, and Josh turned to look at a tall, blond man who was smiling into the camera, standing in a cluster of women. He had his arm around a beautiful, slender brunette. If he was vice president of a modeling agency, he probably dated beautiful women constantly.
“Here’s another picture of him. He’s very social and in the papers a lot. He wanted us to date, but I wouldn’t go out with him. Carter is a womanizer and doesn’t mind bending the truth to suit himself.”
“If he has enough of an ego, that could add to his motive to get rid of you,” Josh said. “You inherited the agency he expected to get, and you wouldn’t go out with him. That would be enough to drive some men to violence.”
“Yes, but now Emily questions if I was right in thinking it was Carter. She said she couldn’t imagine him trying to run me off a road. She said he’s in the news constantly, and the time the police questioned him about the night my apartment was set on fire, he had an alibi.” Laurie turned to stare at Josh wit
h wide eyes. “If it isn’t Carter, I can’t imagine who it is, or why.”
“Why didn’t Carter turn you in to missing persons?”
“Emily said Carter told everyone I took a leave of absence and needed some rest. He probably was happy to have me gone.”
She shut down the computer and turned to him. “So you want me to stay even when you know all that about me?”
“Yes. You’ll be safer here. Tomorrow there are things I need to repair here in the house. I’ll be around to give you protection.”
“Fine. So what do you see happening? Am I going to keep living with you for the next month? The next year? Josh, I have sisters. I should go home.”
“Not yet. You left that home when you had your memory. Don’t go back there when you don’t remember fully.” She was only inches away from him and he was struggling to keep from reaching for her.
“That’s true, but I can’t stay indefinitely.”
“I don’t think you’ll have to. He has to be getting more desperate.”
“That’s scary in every way.”
“You’ve got to let him get into the open so this doesn’t drag on.”
“Finding out about my past has changed you,” she said, studying him. Her mouth was only inches away. Soft, luscious, tempting.
“Maybe it has,” he said, standing abruptly and moving away. “We’re going to part soon, so we’d better start keeping a little distance now.” He headed back to the family room and she followed. Josh added another log to the glowing embers, building up the fire again to take the chill from the air.
“I only went a year to college because I was too busy modeling,” Laurie said. “Since Emily liked the restaurants, Dad didn’t care if Talia and I did something else.”
“Where did you get the car you were driving when you had the wreck? It must not have been a rental or someone would have missed it.”
“No, I had cash and bought it off a lot in Houston.”
Josh settled back against the chair, listening to her talk, still wanting her in his arms. Even at three in the morning, she was bubbly and excited and more desirable than ever.