JD glanced at his watch. Only then did Nina notice it looked like real gold with an exorbitantly expensive number of fancy dials. She couldn’t put the fancy watch together with the T-shirt and the battered pickup. Maybe he’d stolen it.
“He’ll be up in another hour. Just make sure you tell him JD says he’ll pay for the repairs. How good is the town mechanic? MacTavish will want all original parts and no jury-rigging.”
Hoyt took another sip of his coffee and stood up. “Bob’s good. I’ll tell him what you said.” He put his hat back on and turned to Nina. “Thanks for the coffee, Nina. See you at the bake sale?”
“You’ll see my flowers, Hoyt, but I doubt you’ll see me. There’s a lawn and garden show over in Hopkinsville I plan on attending when I visit Hattie.”
Hoyt looked as if he wanted to say something, but Nina headed toward the front door without giving him a chance. She thought her teeth might start chattering at any moment. She didn’t know if she imagined the tension in the kitchen, or if it was all on her part. She had the strangest feeling that Hoyt had asked all the wrong questions and that JD had led him down a garden path. What in the devil was she doing letting a man she knew nothing about stay in her house?
After letting Hoyt out, she marched straight back to the kitchen with every intention of telling Mr. JD Smith he’d have to leave. Only, when she got there, she found him sitting on a stool at her kitchen sink, filling the basin with sudsy water to wash her dishes. Jackie came in behind her, and instead of saying all the things she should say, Nina retrieved the warming dish and prepared more toast.
“If you have a phone book and could tell me what to look under, I think I’d better call that Bob and talk to him.” JD said as Nina poured a glass of milk and set it in front of Jackie.
“You’re not supposed to walk on that foot,” she reminded him. “If you’re going to hobble all over the house, you should use one of Aunt Hattie’s canes.”
She couldn’t believe she’d said that. Had her brains flown out the window the moment this dark-eyed stranger entered her house? He wasn’t even good-looking. But JD’s muscular physique made her feel feminine and petite instead of like an unappealing shrimp. She really should have her head examined, except it wasn’t her head that was in trouble. She was almost thirty years old, and for the first time in her life she had the hots for a man. At least, she thought that was what the kids called it.
Without another word, she went in search of one of Hattie’s walking sticks. She usually kept them in the umbrella stand near the front door. By the time she returned, she knew the brothers had discussed her and reached some decision. Nina didn’t like the way they looked at her at all.
JD took the stick and hefted it in his hand. Admiring the hand-carved cedar with the fire-breathing horse on top, he smoothed the polished wood. “This is a fine piece. Someone has a lot of talent.”
“A lot of people have talent. Not many people appreciate it,” she answered absently. She’d seen sticks like that most of her life. They were pretty, but seldom useful. That was half the problem with handicrafts. They made lovely ornaments with no particular purpose. Of course, she pretty much had the same problem with her garden.
“Unfortunately, the business world demands logic, not creativity. Without government funding of the arts, society will lose all beauty and originality, and stifle in its own lack of imagination,” JD said as he took the stick and wandered down the hall to the front room and the telephone.
Nina stared after him as if he’d mentioned he’d met Shakespeare. He’d just nailed the crime of the century and wandered off as if it were common knowledge. She couldn’t think of one single person in the entire town who could have phrased the problem so neatly.
Shaking her head, she caught a glimpse of Jackie watching her. “Can I fix you anything else?” she asked politely. He’d devoured the eggs and toast as if starved, but she’d seen him put away four hamburgers with all the trimmings last night. Teenage boys had hollow legs.
“May I fix myself more toast?” he asked politely. “That jam’s awful good.”
“Freezer jam. I made it from last year’s strawberries. Help yourself.” She set another loaf of bread on the counter and let him fix his own.
“My d—JD’s pretty smart, isn’t he? My mom says he’s too smart for his own good, whatever that means.”
Nina had a strong feeling she knew exactly what that meant. She still had difficulty grasping the concept of intelligence as acquainted with a man his age wearing T-shirts and driving beat-up pickups with Harley-Davidsons in the back. She’d about decided the computers must be stolen.
She picked up her garden gloves from the table on the enclosed porch. “I’m going out to water the plants. Just holler if you need anything.” She hadn’t had to tell anyone where she was going for the last year or more. She couldn’t quite decide if she liked the feeling it gave her now. Perhaps she had been a little bit lonely since Hattie left.
JD found her some time later as she stared up at the river birch Hattie had planted at the corner of the house. He limped on one foot and the walking stick, but he did it with a grace she could never have managed. Athletic, she added to the tags she’d applied to him.
“I’m losing this blasted tree,” she muttered—mostly to herself—as he came up beside her. “How do other people keep them alive?”
He looked up at the still green leaves and back at her with a quizzical expression. “How do you know you’re losing it? It looks fine to me.”
She shrugged and pulled off a single yellowing leaf from a bottom branch. “I can just tell. If you’d listened to Billy’s warning yesterday, you wouldn’t have stalled out when you did. You should listen when people talk.”
“MacTavish just overhauled that engine. It shouldn’t have gone out,” he protested, limping after her as she headed for the greenhouse.
“You’d better sit yourself down somewhere, Mr. Smith, before you hurt something.” Nina considered asking him when he would leave, but she didn’t have the gumption. She’d apparently used up all her gumption reserves yesterday.
She really should get busy on the phone-company problem, though. Would Matt do the job, or should she start looking for someone else? Remembering she’d also started him on Hattie’s incompetency hearing shut down any further thought in that direction.
“I need to talk with you. If you’d sit still a minute, I could sit, too.” JD hobbled into the greenhouse after her, then stopped and gazed around.
Nina ignored him. In here, she knew who she was, what she was doing, where she planned to go. The plants welcomed her. If she talked to them, they didn’t talk back, except to wave an occasional frond or sprout another blossom. Plants had their own lives, their own whims, but they didn’t bite the hand that fed them. She liked the sense of appreciation she felt in here. She certainly didn’t get it from teaching.
She checked her begonia cuttings for moisture, then watered her granddaddy fern. She’d practically supplied the entire county with ferns from this old fellow.
“I thought Jackie said you were a teacher. Are you a florist, too?” He still stood at the entrance of the greenhouse, gazing at the jungle she’d created.
“Plants are just a hobby. I barely cover my costs by selling a few cuttings here and there. I raise a few poinsettias and Easter lilies for the church, a few begonias and petunias and things for the Piggly Wiggly to set out in the spring. The rest is for my own benefit. What did you want to talk about, Mr. Smith?”
“Why are we back to this Mr. Smith business? What happened to JD?” He hobbled down an aisle for a better look at an orchid climbing up a support post toward the roof. She’d covered the post in bark and moss so the plant had something to grasp.
“I thought I’d wait to see that driver’s license before committing to any name,” Nina answered idly, putting the watering can down and checking the geranium seedlings to see if she should separate them yet.
He remained silent for a moment l
onger. “Jackie could have been a little more imaginative in his choice of names, I suppose,” he admitted.
Nina shot him a suspicious look. He’d smoothed the long tangle of his black hair off his forehead, revealing the stark white swath of bandage against bronzed skin. Gary had brought up their duffel bags with the motorcycle, and she noticed her guest had apparently dug out a brown leather vest to cover a clean T-shirt. But the attempts at civilization only emphasized her guest’s features. He definitely had Native American blood. She should have seen it earlier and not made that joke about Pocahontas.
“When did Bob say your truck would be fixed?”
“Will you believe me if I tell you I’m protecting you by not using my real name?” He ignored her question about the truck.
Nina ran her fingers through her cropped hair and glared at him. “Look, mister. I’ve done everything any decent law-abiding citizen can do. You, on the other hand, have done nothing but lie. You’ll excuse me if I ask what I can do to help you leave.”
He took another look at the orchid, then gazed around the lush greenhouse before turning back to her. “If I offer you a thousand a month in rent, will you let us stay?”
Chapter 5
Miss Nina Toon looked as if he’d dropped a ton of bricks on her. Maybe he had. JD didn’t know the rent in an area like this, but he assumed it in no way equaled the extortionate sums commanded in Los Angeles. He’d impulsively thrown out the first number coming to mind that might have some impact on her finances. He could remember living on a marine sergeant’s salary. A thousand extra a month would have opened whole new horizons. A teacher would fit in a similar category.
As much as the greenhouse fascinated him, JD couldn’t take his eyes off the petite statue frozen in the aisle. She wasn’t wearing those atrocious bib shorts today. She’d apparently dressed for guests by donning a breezy, flowery long dress that she wore over a tight ribbed shirt. He personally thought the combination awful, but he admitted to some prejudice against long skirts over those lovely legs. If she had breasts, the dress’s loose bodice disguised the fact. He rather thought if she had anything to show, she would. Women usually knew their most attractive assets. So he could assume she hid what she didn’t have. Lust-crazed idiot that he was, that didn’t keep him from wanting to see more.
Since she didn’t answer him immediately, JD tried explaining in a manner that might reassure her doubts. “Look, I just talked to the mechanic. It will be weeks before he can put the truck together. I promised Jackie we’d have a little fun together this summer. A friend of mine offered the loan of his summer house on Myrtle Beach. I figured I could work on my programming while Jackie made some new friends, and we would have plenty of time to get out and enjoy ourselves.”
He strangled his walking stick in helplessness. “Now we’re stranded here in the middle of nowhere. I’ve already checked, and it’s too late to reserve any of the cabins or rooms at the state parks. If we could just have a place to stay, I figure I could make the best of it, take him swimming, waterskiing, whatever. He has a learner’s permit. I don’t know what the state law is around here, but I thought I could take him out on the Harley. I just need time to get this job done, then the truck should be back together and we can head out for the beach again.”
She still seemed slightly dazed, but she picked up her watering can and began working on another overgrown green monstrosity. JD had never seen so many plants in one place, and he lived in California, for pete’s sake. He had the feeling if he took a machete through here, he might uncover a Mayan ruin or two.
“I don’t even know you,” she finally murmured, reaching for a fern hanging over her head. “You could be a serial killer for all I know. Maybe if you’d let Hoyt check you out, if you’d given your real name...” She hesitated, making even that possibility seem remote.
JD knotted his fist around the walking stick. The more she resisted, the more he intended to push. His first decision might have been reckless, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized it answered a dozen problems, without his even contemplating the slender woman tempting his vision right now. Add her to the mix, and he settled in concrete. He hadn’t gotten where he was today by quitting.
“Look, if I tell you the truth and you see how innocent it is, would you give me a chance?”
For someone of her pale coloring, she certainly had noticeable lashes. Long and cinnamon-colored, they flapped closed, creating soft brown arcs across her cheeks, as if she squeezed her eyes shut in hopes he would disappear. When she opened them again, JD moved a little closer. He didn’t know why he did that. He had rotten luck with women—probably his own fault, he admitted honestly. But he’d never learned to curb his impulses.
Nina backed away. He took the watering can and easily watered the plant she strained to reach.
“I can’t believe a thing you say,” she reminded him.
“You can check with Jackie. He’ll tell you exactly what I’ll tell you now.”
He still saw suspicion in her eyes, but she didn’t instantly tell him to go to hell. Like she ought to. Even he admitted that.
“Jackie’s mother married a man who beats her. Jackie’s tried stopping the guy several times and got smashed against the wall for his efforts. Now his stepfather has taken to carrying a gun, and Jackie is terrified of him. It isn’t a healthy situation. With school out for the summer, it could become explosive. Jackie tracked me down and called me and asked if he could live with me. I didn’t even know about the kid, but I couldn’t leave him there.”
The effort of this explanation exhausted him. JD leaned against one of the tables. He wasn’t used to explaining himself, and the half truths made everything more difficult. He still shuddered at the situation he’d found in Tempe. He might never forgive himself for not knowing about Jackie. And his anger at himself had led to still another reckless decision. He should never have run off with Jackie without telling Nancy.
“I tried persuading Jackie’s mother to come with us, but she refused,” he said carefully. “Nancy thinks the creep will come around now that he’s working a steady job. She agreed that the situation would be healthier if Jackie isn’t around so much. But she didn’t agree to let me take him across the country. She doesn’t know where he is, and she’s probably called the police on us. I don’t want him back in the situation he just left, but if the police find me, that’s what will happen. Do you understand?”
She held her arms crossed in front of her as if to ward off a blow. “I understand that you’re running from something, most likely the law, and you have an innocent child mixed up in it. Your intentions may be perfectly honorable, but you can’t leave the boy’s mother scared to death. That’s a criminal act in itself.”
His little spiel could have raised a dozen questions, but she zeroed in on the gist of it, undistracted by all the other clouds he’d thrown in her way. JD picked up the watering can again. “You have a laser for a brain, you know that, don’t you?”
“I work with kids. It’s my job. You learn to see through the dust they kick up. Are you going to call Jackie’s mother?”
Tenacious, too. Uncomfortable, JD twisted his shoulders inside the tight shirt. The humidity in here made him itch. Or maybe her razor-sharp gaze had cut invisible gashes in his hide. He didn’t want to call Nancy. He couldn’t trust her any more than he did Harry and his cohorts. But Nina was right. Nancy had enough problems without worrying about Jackie, too.
“I can’t call her. She could have the call traced. But I’ll get word to her. Will that suffice?”
“What can you possibly tell her that will make her feel easy again?” she asked, watching him with those wide cat eyes.
“I’ll tell her we’re at the beach and having a great time. I’ll give her my friend’s number in case she wants to reach us. She thinks I’m an irresponsible idiot, so she’ll buy that.”
“What about your friend? Won’t Jackie’s mother send the police to question him? I would.”
“It won’t do any good. He’ll just tell her that I’m sending messages through the computer. By the time the police figure out how to trace me, if they even bother, I’ll be back home.”
Nina wanted to believe him. Something rebellious inside her fought the caution her aunt had taught her and clamored to invite this dark-eyed man and his battered brother into her big empty house. Surely a man who worked on computers and troubled himself to take care of his young brother couldn’t be dangerous. She wanted to say yes. Thirty years of experience told her she was insane if she did.
“Mr. Smith, I just don’t think this is a wise idea,” she answered slowly, avoiding looking at the way his muscles rippled when he stretched to reach the higher plants. Why couldn’t the man wear decent shirts like anyone else?
He set the empty watering can down. His biceps bulged even more than Hoyt’s. Nina had the strange notion that all her hormones had shot straight to her brain. They’d never done that once in her entire lifetime. Maybe she was one of those insane women who fell for criminal types.
“What is it you want most in life, Miss Toon?”
Startled by the question, Nina jerked her head around. Big mistake. Dark eyes had turned serious, and his mouth had pulled into a straight line that almost made him... intriguing. Not handsome. Just intriguing. She shrugged. “I’ve never given it much thought. I have a house and all the land I could want. I have dozens of children every winter that I can get rid of in the summer, an ideal situation if I ever heard one. I’ve never felt the need for a man in my life. I can’t think of anything else that I could want.”
She felt his glare cut into her back as she returned to her work.
“No dreams at all? Anyone of intelligence has dreams. You don’t strike me as particularly stupid. There must be something, even if it’s just a glassed-in porch or a new red sports car.”
He was trying to bribe her! That thought jolted her out of her near complacency. Only a criminal would throw around those kind of dreams. Nina dropped her spading shovel and faced him squarely. “I have dreams, all right, mister. I have big dreams. I don’t squander wishes on tawdry red cars or pretty windows. If I’m going to wish and dream, I’ll do it right. What I want is an entire botanical garden. I want those acres out there turned into a wonderland of plants and trees. I’d show the world the true beauty of this area, draw tourists in year-round so the town doesn’t starve every winter. I want fern forests and Japanese pagodas, lily ponds and English mazes. There’s swampland down the back near the lake that I could turn into an environmental learning center and habitat for wildlife. I could spend a lifetime creating a living monument to my aunt. Now how’s that for dreams, Mr. Smith?”
Garden of Dreams Page 5