“Same jail, new jailer,” Allison said, and took a sip of her coffee.
Jesse was silent for a long moment. “I didn’t realize you felt as if you were in jail.”
Allison sighed. “I feel as if I’ve been in jail since the night I saw Alicia’s and John’s murders. The cells change, the jailers change, but I’m still a prisoner.” She offered him a small smile. “At least Shelly has been a more pleasant keeper than Kent Keller, who rarely uttered a single word.”
Again Jesse was silent for a long moment. “Maybe we both could use a little break from the routine,” he finally said. “Why don’t we go camping? We could leave here in an hour or so and return before noon tomorrow when I should be back at the station.”
“Are you serious?” The idea of leaving the house both thrilled and distressed her. She was tired of wandering the now familiar confines of the house and thought that a change of scenery, so to speak, would be exhilarating.
However, she was also aware that anywhere outside of this house she would once again be totally dependent on another person. Her sight limitations would be much more a hindrance once she left the structure of Jesse’s house.
“I’m very serious.” He scooted his chair away from the table and stood. “I think it’s just what we both need. I always think better when I’m in the great outdoors, and you’ll get a little vacation from your jail.”
Allison could feel the energy that radiated from him.
“Are you game?”
“Sure,” she agreed, a tiny thrill of adventure sweeping through her. “What do I need to do?”
“Sit here, finish your coffee, then get dressed. Jeans and a T-shirt, and you might bring a sweater or light jacket for the evening hours. I’ll take care of the rest.” With these words he disappeared from the kitchen.
Allison sipped her coffee and tried to imagine camping out. Did Jesse have a tent or would they sleep beneath the moon and stars? A moon and stars she wouldn’t be able to see.
With a frown of irritation, she shoved this thought aside. She refused to let the day take on the dull gray of her blindness. She refused to allow self-pity to ruin a new adventure. A break in the routine would be good for her. With excitement winging through her, she finished her coffee, placed the cup in the dishwasher, then went to her room.
She placed the soap fish on her nightstand, again thinking how nice it had been of Vic to think of her. The soap sculpture would probably be the only souvenir she’d take back to Chicago with her when she left Mustang.
She quickly changed her clothes, her heart pumping with excitement as she thought of enjoying her first camping experience.
An hour later, she and Jesse were in his car. The back seat and trunk were packed with all the items Jesse said were necessary.
“Where are we going?” Allison asked when she sensed they’d left the city limits of Mustang.
“Whenever I don’t have a lot of time but want to get away, I go to a national park about an hour from here. The camp sites are isolated but beautifully kept, and the scenery is breathtaking.”
She sensed his wince. “If the scenery is beautiful, then it will be your job to describe it to me in glowing terms so I can see it in my mind.”
“I’ve never been very good at painting pictures with words,” he cautioned her.
She smiled. “Then you’ll learn…just for me.” She leaned back in the seat and felt herself relaxing. She could tell it was a beautiful day, could feel the strength of the sun against her arm and leg closest to the window.
“Did you camp as a boy?” she asked, curious about the man who seemed to occupy far too much of her thoughts.
“Just about every weekend when the weather was nice,” he replied. “My dad was a real outdoorsman. He taught me a real love and respect for nature. He and my mom and me would pack up the car every Friday afternoon and camp until Sunday evening.”
She could tell by the tone of his voice that those times were pleasant. She envied him his memories. She had so few good memories of her own childhood. There had been no time for fun in the Welch family.
“If somebody would have told me two months ago that I’d be in Montana and looking forward to camping for a night, I would have told them they were nuts,” she said.
“I guess a big-city interior designer doesn’t get much time to converse with nature.” She heard the smile in his voice, and the desire to see his smile sent a sharp, deep ache through her. “So, what did you do in your free time for fun?”
“Oh, all kinds of things,” she replied glibly, trying to remind herself of how much she’d loved her life in Chicago.
“Things like what?”
She frowned, trying to remember the life that, at the moment, seemed like somebody else’s. “I took potential clients to dinner or sometimes to the theater.”
“But that was basically work, right? Did you have hobbies of any kind? Things you liked to do when you weren’t working?”
Her frown deepened. Hobbies? She’d never taken the time to pursue any. She’d been taught that hobbies were a waste of time. “I mostly worked. I loved my work,” she said with a forced passion. “And as soon as my sight returns, I’ll get back to Chicago and continue doing what I love.”
The vehemence of her answer seemed to take him aback. He fell silent, and so did she. The discussion had depressed her, and she wasn’t sure why. All she knew for sure was that for the first time since arriving in Mustang, she wasn’t particularly looking forward to returning home to Chicago.
Jesse wrestled with the tent, wondering if this hadn’t been an enormous mistake. When he’d first suggested the camping trip, it had been an effort to break the monotony for Cecilia, but he had also hoped getting away from the confines of the house would alleviate the tension that had existed between them since the night they had kissed.
As he worked, he looked at Cecilia, who sat nearby on a dead, fallen tree trunk, her face lifted toward the sun. As if she sensed his gaze, she turned her head and offered a hesitant smile. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?” she asked.
“No, thanks. I should have this thing set up in just a few minutes.” He should have already had the tent erected, but his attention had been irritatingly distracted by her.
The sun fired rich red highlights in her dark hair and summoned a blush of color to her cheeks. With her face tilted upward, he found the smooth column of her neck inviting, the curve of her breasts against the thin cotton T-shirt enchanting and the length of her jean-clad legs fascinating.
So much for a change of venue easing the tension she managed to evoke in him, he thought. What on earth had he been thinking? He’d brought them from a house with many rooms to a tiny tent. Big mistake! He banged in a stake with more force than necessary.
Since the night of that damned kiss, Jesse had two things on his mind, two thoughts that were quickly approaching obsessive proportions. The first was catching Casanova. The second was making love to Cecilia.
The first was essential, the second was superfluous. Catching Casanova would be good for him, good for his town. Making love to Cecilia was fool’s food, and Jesse was trying desperately not to taste the temptation.
“What do you do when you’re camping out? I mean, besides sleeping in the tent.”
“There are a couple of streams near here. Sometimes I do a little trout fishing, but I didn’t bring the equipment today.”
“You don’t hunt, do you?”
He heard the underlying disapproval in her question and grinned. “No, I don’t hunt, and I only catch the fish I intend to eat.” He pounded in the last stake. “Most of the time when I come here, it’s just to enjoy the quiet. I do a little hiking, sit and watch the sun set and listen to the nature that surrounds me.”
Cecilia smiled. “After spending the last five days in Shelly’s company, listening to nature will definitely be a change.”
Jesse laughed. “Yeah, it will be much quieter. Shelly does like to talk, doesn’t she?”
“She does, but she’s very nice. Did you know she has a huge crush on Sam Black?”
“You’re kidding.” Surprise winged through Jesse as he thought of the two deputies. “Poor kid will probably have her heart broken. Sam isn’t exactly commitment material.”
Cecilia smiled. “You’d be surprised what love and a determined woman can accomplish.” Her smile faltered slightly. “At least that’s what I’ve heard, and that’s what I want to believe.”
There was a vulnerable wistfulness in her voice, as if she desperately wanted to find love, to be loved, but had so far found that particular emotion heartbreakingly elusive.
“Any special guy back in Chicago?” Jesse asked as he finished the last of the tent assembling. Surely a woman as beautiful, as sexy as Cecilia had a boyfriend.
She’d said she’d lost her family, but she hadn’t mentioned a significant other in her conversation about her life in Chicago. How much easier it would make things for him if she had a boyfriend, somebody who owned her heart, and the kiss she’d shared with Jesse had simply been an anomaly brought on by her recent traumas.
“No, nobody special.” Again he heard a wistfulness in her tone, a longing that was at once provocative. “I guess I never really took the time or trouble to pursue any kind of personal relationships.”
“That’s something you can change when you get back home,” Jesse said. “I’m going to unload the rest of the things from the car,” he said, his voice more gruff than usual.
Physical activity—that’s what he needed. For some reason, Cecilia was getting beneath his skin and he found the itch she was creating in him distinctly uncomfortable.
“Want me to help?” she asked.
“No, thanks. I can get it,” he replied, and stalked off toward the car parked in the distance.
It took him three trips from the car to the campsite to get everything set up to his satisfaction. By the time he was finished, the sun was high overhead and his stomach let him know it was lunchtime.
“Why don’t we eat a sandwich, then take a hike?” he suggested.
“Sounds good,” she agreed.
It took them only a few minutes to fix sandwiches from the cooler of food Jesse had brought along. As they ate, Jesse did his best to describe their immediate surroundings for her. As he did, he wondered who had described things to Paul over the years. Did he have a wife who acted as his eyes?
As always, thoughts of Paul brought with them the unsettling feeling of business unfinished, of loose ends that needed to be tied. As always, he consciously shoved uncomfortable thoughts of his old friend aside.
He was grateful when lunch was finished and they started on their hike. Jesse had always found hiking a mind-clearing activity; however, he’d never gone hiking with a desirable blind woman before.
He held Cecilia’s hand as they walked down the well-worn trail, careful to watch for rocks that might trip her, or low-lying branches that might slap her.
If he’d been by himself, he would have chosen one of the less-traveled trails, but with Cecilia beside him he picked the widest, clearest path.
Their pace was snail slow and they’d only been walking a few minutes when Cecilia broke the silence between them. “Maybe it would be better if you took me back to the campsite.” He heard a touch of frustration in her voice. “I could sit and wait while you do a little hiking.”
He stopped walking and looked at her. “Do you want to go back?”
“Not really,” she admitted. “But I’m forcing you to walk slow.”
“I don’t mind,” he replied. “Besides, walking slowly, I’m seeing things I’ve never noticed before.”
“Like what?” she asked as they continued on.
“I’ve never noticed before that there are wildflowers all along here.”
“What color are they?”
“White.” He stopped and reached over along the side of the path and picked one of the flowers. He took her hand and placed the flower gently in her palm.
She took the flower and twirled it between two fingers, then ran it along her cheek, as if enjoying the contact of soft petals against her skin. To Jesse, the simple act was rife with sensuality and a whirling heat spun to life in the pit of his stomach.
She brought the flower up beneath her nose and smiled. “It smells so pretty.” She tucked the flower behind her ear, where the white petals were perfectly displayed against her dark strands of hair.
As they continued on, Jesse fought his growing awareness of her. The softness of her hand enticed him at the same time the distinctive scent of her seemed to surround him. Occasionally she bumped into him, and as her body touched his, tiny pinpoints of electricity ignited at each point of contact.
Jesse picked up their pace, wishing he could jog, run like the wind to escape the desire that burned in him. He’d been fighting it all week long. He’d hoped that getting them out of the confines of the house would ease the sexual tension he felt whenever she was near.
“Jesse, could we slow down just a little?” she asked after a few minutes.
He stopped and looked at her, saw the slightly panicked expression on her face, the fresh welt on her arm where a branch had apparently hit her, and cursed himself.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and touched her arm where the skin was raised and red. He should be bull- whipped for careening down the trail without thought for her.
“It’s all right. It’s just a little frightening to move so fast when you’re blind.” Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and he didn’t know if it was because of the pace they’d been keeping, or because his fingers still caressed the soft skin on her arm.
He dropped his hand, the pads of his fingers tingling from the momentary contact. “There’s a little stream up ahead with a big, flat rock just perfect for sitting. We’ll rest there for a few minutes.”
“Okay,” she agreed, a slight flush coloring her cheeks.
It took them only a few minutes to reach the rock that jutted out from the bank of the small, racing stream. The rock was big enough so they could sit and not touch, and that was just fine with Jesse.
They sat side by side, their legs stretched out before them. Although the rock was now shaded by the branches of a nearby tree, it still retained the heat of the sun from earlier in the day.
The stream gurgled and splashed, creating a pleasant natural music. Overhead, a bird whistled a sweet song and the leaves of the trees whispered as a breeze blew through them.
Slowly Jesse felt himself relaxing. He’d spent many hours over the years on this very rock, seeking the kind of peace and tranquillity only isolation and Mother Nature could offer.
“It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?” Cecilia’s voice was soft, as if in reverence of their surroundings.
“Yes, it is,” he agreed.
She nodded. “It sounds beautiful.”
“I wish you could see it…the way the water trips over the rocks, and when the sun shines just so, it turns the water silvery. Every once in a while you can see a fish break the surface and make rings.”
Jesse paused a moment, then continued. “There is a small clearing on the other side of the stream and it looks like it’s a place where deer and other wildlife come down to the water to drink. There’s also a patch of those wildflowers just downstream from where we’re sitting.”
Cecilia smiled and covered his hand with hers. “Thank you,” she said simply.
“For what?” He wondered if she had any idea what her slightest touch did to him, if she was aware of the fires she ignited each time their flesh met in any way.
“For helping me see.” She took her hand from his, allowing him to breathe again.
“That’s funny, I was just thinking the same thing,” he replied.
“What do you mean?” Her eyes were the green of the nearby trees.
“In describing it all to you, it was like I was seeing it for the first time.” It was true, he thought in surprise. She was the blind one, but
she was helping him see.
“It’s funny.” She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, her expression contemplative. “Right here, right now, I don’t feel quite so blind. My other senses are so full of impressions, and thanks to you, I have a clear mental picture of the surroundings.”
“This is one of my most favorite places in the whole world,” Jesse said. “I’ve spent a lot of time over the years right here on this rock, contemplating life’s problems and mysteries. Somehow, sitting here in the middle of nature made those problems and mysteries a little less daunting.”
Cecilia reached out her hand and placed it on his arm. “Thank you, Jesse.”
“For what?”
“For bringing me camping, for sharing your favorite place with me. But most of all, for making me feel completely safe whenever I’m with you.”
Jesse wanted to protest. As he thought of the two of them, alone in the tent for the night, he knew this camping trip had been an enormous mistake. She wasn’t safe. She especially wasn’t safe from him.
Chapter 8
“This is absolutely the best meal I’ve ever had,” Allison said as she ate the steak and baked potato Jesse had cooked over the flames of an open fire.
“It is good, isn’t it?” Jesse agreed. “There’s nothing better than food cooked over a fire.”
“The whole afternoon has been wonderful.” And it had been.
They had spent several hours sitting on the rock, sometimes talking about nothing important and other times merely enjoying a companionable silence.
On the way back, they had made a pit stop at the nearby public facilities, then returned to the campsite. Allison had sat on the fallen tree trunk while Jesse prepared dinner.
As he worked, Jesse had entertained her with sto ries about past camping experiences, displaying a delightful sense of humor that kept her laughing and protesting that he was making it all up.
She knew when evening was falling by the cooling temperature and was grateful when Jesse built a fire, which released plenty of smoke-fragrant heat.
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