Another Man's Wife

by Dallas Schulze

  * * *

  Kelsey woke abruptly, coming out of a sound sleep to darkness and the awareness that something was wrong. She lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling, trying to place what had awakened her. A noise, maybe? As if on cue, she heard it again, a scratchy squeaking sound. The sound was both familiar and frightening. Familiar because she heard it every time she walked across the living room and stepped on the loose floorboard next to the sofa. Frightening because she shouldn’t be hearing it in the middle of the night.

  Danny! Kelsey shot up, tossing the covers aside. Pausing only to snatch up the baseball bat she kept under the edge of the bed, she dashed across the bedroom, barefoot and silent. It was probably nothing, she was telling herself as she eased open the bedroom door and crept out into the hall. It was an old house; it could be just the natural sounds as the building settled and shifted, sinking more comfortably onto its foundations. Nothing to panic about. Certainly nothing to put her heart so solidly in her throat.

  She paused in front of Danny’s half-open door. The soft glow of the night-light was enough to reveal her son’s sturdy body sprawled across his bed, the covers kicked off as usual. Whatever she’d heard, it hadn’t been enough to disturb Danny, but then, short of a minor explosion next to his ear, not much did wake him. He always had been a solid sleeper.

  A muffled thud from the front of the house had her heart in her throat again. She eased the bedroom door shut, closing her son away from the danger—if there was any danger, she reminded herself. The thud had probably been an animal, maybe a raccoon jumping onto the porch roof or a skunk knocking over a potted plant during his nightly search for dinner.

  But the reassurances did nothing to slow the pounding of her heart as she crept down the hall toward the living room. Nothing to be afraid of, she reminded herself. The house had been locked up tight before she went to bed. Besides, crime, while not unheard-of around here, was a fairly rare thing. Just an animal, she told herself firmly as she eased her head around the edge of the doorjamb and peeked into the living room.

  And found herself staring at a broad—very broad—male back.

  Kelsey’s heart stopped completely and then started again with a thunk that seemed to knock the breath from her. Idiot! The word screamed in her head. What was she doing, creeping around in the middle of the night armed with a baseball bat? Who did she think she was? Rambo? Why hadn’t she picked up the phone in her bedroom and dialed 911, as any sane woman would have done?

  She slid one foot back. There was a phone in the kitchen....

  But her caution came too late. Or perhaps her retreat wasn’t as silent as she’d hoped. Because the intruder turned suddenly. Kelsey reacted instinctively to protect herself. She jabbed the baseball bat in the direction of his midsection. Either she misjudged or he deflected her attack, because she felt the end of the bat hit something much harder than a stomach. His grunt of pain told her that she’d connected, but the speed with which he moved told her she hadn’t landed a disabling blow.

  Kelsey squeaked with dismay as the bat was jerked out of her hands. By the time it thudded to the floor, she’d already turned to run. But he was too quick for her. Hard fingers closed around her arm, and her own momentum had her spinning toward him. She might have screamed, but her breath was momentarily knocked out of her when she collided with a wall of solid muscle.

  He was too big, too strong. A wave of pure feminine terror washed over her. He could do anything he wanted with her, and she’d be helpless to stop him. And then she remembered her son, sleeping peacefully just a few feet away and she felt adrenaline pump new strength into her. She gathered herself to struggle and suddenly heard the sound of her name.

  “Kelsey! It’s me. Gage.”

  “Gage?” She stared up at him, her heart thudding so hard it was difficult to speak. Her voice rose on a disbelieving squeak. “Gage?”

  “It’s me,” he confirmed. He reached out to switch on a table lamp, banishing the shadows to the corners of the room.

  “Gage. Oh, God.” The adrenaline faded abruptly, leaving her light-headed.

  Gage felt her sway and quickly slid one arm around her waist, bracing her against the length of his body as her knees threatened to give out on her. His other arm throbbed dully from the blow she’d dealt him with the baseball bat that now lay at their feet.

  “Gage.” As if needing assurance that he was really there, she patted his shoulders and upper arms with shaking hands. She leaned her forehead against his chest. “Oh, God. It’s you.”

  “Was it something I said?” he asked, aware that his heart was beating much faster than normal.

  Kelsey laughed weakly, her fingers curling into his shirt, clinging for dear life. “I thought you were someone else.”

  “Anyone in particular? I know I’ve been out of the country for a few months but I wouldn’t have thought it was long enough for manners to have changed that much. Is it customary to greet guests with a baseball bat now?”

  She laughed again, the sound holding a hint of relieved tears. “I thought you were an ax murderer,” she admitted with a watery chuckle.

  Gage paused to absorb that. When he spoke again, there was an edge of steel in his voice. “And you figured you’d provide me with a bat to use for practice?” he asked in a deceptively gentle voice.

  Kelsey winced. “I know it was stupid. But I woke up and heard a noise. And I thought it was probably a raccoon outside or a skunk.”

  “And you were going to bludgeon it into submission?” He nudged the bat with the side of his foot.

  “I don’t know what I was going to do,” she admitted.

  “You should have called 911.”

  “I know. But I thought it was probably nothing and I’d have felt like an idiot if the police came out and found nothing worse than a marauding skunk.”

  “Much better if they came out and found a crazed killer,” Gage said, nodding his understanding.

  “Okay, okay. So I was dumb.” Kelsey was too relieved that it had been him to get seriously annoyed at his sarcasm. Besides, he was right. She should have called the police. “I’m glad it was you.”

  “So am I.” Gage’s arm tightened around her as he felt a shiver work its way up her spine. He pressed his cheek against her silky hair. He was still feeling a little shaky himself. First he’d found himself fending off a baseball bat and then he’d found out that Kelsey could have gotten herself killed if he really had been an intruder. If anything happened to Kelsey...

  She shifted a little, and he was suddenly aware of the soft curves of her pressed against him, of the warm female body he was holding. Her knee-length cotton nightgown was perfectly modest, but he could feel the warmth of her skin through the fabric. Her hair was smooth as silk and held the faint floral scent of her shampoo. She felt quintessentially feminine, all curves and softness to complement the harder angles of his body.

  Kelsey felt Gage’s hold on her shift, his hand flattening against the middle of her back. She could feel the imprint of each finger on her skin and suddenly realized what flimsy protection her nightgown offered. Not that she needed protection from Gage, of course, but there was something startlingly intimate about the feel of his hand almost touching her skin. She could feel the steady beat of his heart under her cheek, the solid strength of muscles under her hands, pressed against the length of her body. She breathed in the faint scent of some woodsy after-shave and the warm, underlying scent of male underneath it. The scent made her want to snuggle closer, to breathe more deeply of the rich masculine scents, to feel—

  Kelsey broke the thought off, feeling a blush work its way from her toes all the way to the top of her head until her entire body felt warmed by it. Good grief, what was wrong with her?

  Gage suddenly became aware of the direction his thoughts were turning. Good God, what was he doing? This was Kelsey he was holding. His friend. Rick’s wife.

  It would have been impossible to say which of them moved first. At the same moment that
Kelsey started to push herself away from him, Gage was releasing her as abruptly as if she’d suddenly caught fire. They stared at each other for a few seconds, tension humming between them—a tension to which neither was willing to put a name.

  “You’re home early,” Kelsey said, breaking the silence before it could become uncomfortable.

  “Actually I’m late.” Gage ran his fingers through his hair, trying not to notice the subtle way her nightgown hinted at the curves of her slender body. Must be jet lag, he told himself. “I told Danny I’d be here Tuesday night. It’s Wednesday morning,” he pointed out, nodding to the clock. “I’d have been here hours ago, but the flight was delayed.”

  “He told me you said Thursday. He still gets mixed up on the days of the week.” Kelsey’s laugh was a little forced. She was suddenly feeling underdressed, which was ridiculous, considering her nightie was about as provocative as a nun’s habit. Besides, this was Gage, for heaven’s sake! She suddenly remembered the blow she’d aimed at him with the baseball bat. “Did I hurt you?”

  “I’ll live.” Gage flexed his arm, thankful that his reflexes had been fast enough to block her jab. If she’d hit him in the stomach, he’d probably still be writhing in agony.

  “I’m sorry. I thought you were—”

  “An ax murderer,” he finished for her. He had to repress a shudder when he considered what could have happened to her if he had been an intruder.

  “I’ve got some ham leftover from Christmas dinner,” Kelsey said, sensing the direction of his thoughts and deeming it prudent to offer a distraction. “And chocolate cake.”

  “Do you feed all the ax murderers you come across?” Gage asked.

  “Only the ones I’ve known for years.” She combed her fingers through her hair, trying to create some order in the tumbled mass. “Let me do something with my hair and I’ll get you something to eat.”

  Gage watched her leave, his eyes unwillingly drawn to the sway of her hips.

  “Jet lag,” he muttered, hoping that’s all it was.

  Chapter 4

  Gage’s visit would be brief this time around, he told Kelsey over ham sandwiches and chocolate cake. He only had a week. They were shorthanded on the job, and it hadn’t been easy to get even that much time off, but he’d wanted to spend at least part of the holiday with his family.

  Kelsey was an only child, born fairly late in her parents’ lives. Though she loved them dearly and knew the feeling was mutual, she couldn’t really say that they were particularly close. Forty years had simply proved to be too wide a gap for them to bridge and develop a deep understanding of one another.

  That lack made her all the more intrigued by the close ties that linked Gage to his family. The four brothers shared a bond she envied. Though she’d met all of the Walker men, Cole was the only one she knew more than superficially. Rick had known them better, having attended high school with Gage and spent time at his home while they were growing up. Rick had also been an only child but he hadn’t shared Kelsey’s wistful envy about having siblings.

  “Are you kidding? Being an only child means you get all the attention. Who’d be dumb enough to want to share that?”

  She smiled, remembering his exaggerated look of incredulity.

  “You’re smiling at your cake,” Gage pointed out in a carefully neutral tone.

  “Sorry.” She glanced across the table at him, her gray eyes warm with remembered laughter. “I was just thinking about Rick’s theory that being an only child was great because it meant that you got all the attention.”

  “I remember him pointing that out to me a time or two,” Gage said, grinning. “I think he was hinting that I might want to dispose of a couple of excess siblings.”

  Kelsey laughed. “Could be. I always wanted a sister to share things with. Or that fabled big brother, the one who’d stand up for me and who also brought around a lot of cute friends.”

  “I’ve got two older brothers, and they were as likely to stand on me as they were to stand up for me. And they tended to be pretty possessive of any cute friends they had.”

  “I think the situation might have been different if you’d been a girl,” Kelsey pointed out repressively.

  “Maybe.” Gage appeared to consider the possibility while he polished off his cake. “Maybe they wouldn’t have stood on me quite so much if I’d been a girl,” he conceded finally.

  Kelsey laughed. “You’re an idiot.”

  “Thank you.”

  A companionable silence fell between them, the kind possible only between two people who are completely comfortable with each other.

  “How are you, Kelsey?”

  Gage’s question brought Kelsey’s eyes across the table to meet his. The concern she saw there made her eyes sting. She blinked the feeling away and smiled at him.

  “You mean, aside from fending off would-be ax murderers in the middle of the night?” She was pleased with the lightness of her tone, even more pleased to see his mouth quirk in a half smile.

  “Aside from that,” he agreed.

  “I’m fine. Really,” she added when he looked doubtful.

  “You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?” His tone was light but his eyes were searching.

  “Yes, but I don’t have to.” Kelsey reached across the table to touch her fingertips to the back of his hand. Gage turned his hand palm up, catching her fingers in his. He stared down at their joined hands.

  “It’s been almost three years.” He was speaking to himself as much as to her. She didn’t have to ask what he was talking about. Rick was always with them.

  “Sometimes it seems like twenty and sometimes it seems like just yesterday,” Kelsey said softly. “I still miss him but I’ve gotten on with my life. I really am okay.”

  She met his searching look openly. There was nothing to hide. She’d made her peace with the empty place in her heart. Rick was gone but life moved on, and she’d had to make the choice to move with it or die with him. She’d made the only choice possible, thanks, in no small part, to the man sitting across the table from her.

  “Good.” Whatever Gage saw in her eyes must have convinced him that she really was doing all right. His fingers tightened over hers in a quick, affectionate squeeze before releasing her. “I’ll help you clean up,” he said, picking up his plate as he stood.

  They cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher in companionable silence. The odd tension that had sprung up between them earlier was forgotten, nothing more than a shadow borne out of darkness and adrenaline.

  * * *

  Saturday mornings Kelsey left the house at the crack of dawn and drove to Santa Barbara to participate in the farmers’ market there. The Saturday before New Year’s Eve was no different. Her sales at the farmers’ market were a vital part of her income. Besides, she liked the hustle and bustle, the chance to talk to other growers and exchange information with them.

  Ordinarily she took Danny to her in-laws on Friday night and picked him up Saturday afternoon. Rick’s parents welcomed the chance to spend time with their only grandchild, and Kelsey didn’t have to find a way to entertain her son and handle customers at the same time. But Bill and Marilyn Jackson had left the day after Christmas for a two-week cruise, and Kelsey hadn’t been able to find a replacement baby-sitter, which meant she had to take Danny to the market with her.

  She wasn’t looking forward to it. No matter how many toys and games she brought, he was bound to get bored long before it was time to come home, which was why she had to restrain the urge to fall on Gage’s neck with gratitude when he offered to come with her and look after the booth and/or Danny.

  “You don’t have to do that,” she said, trying not to look too pathetically eager.

  She was sitting on the front porch, watching Gage and Danny play a game of catch. Since Danny’s throwing skills were still somewhat marginal, it was more a game of fetch, with Gage spending most of his time chasing down a recalcitrant ball.

  The temperature hovered in t
he low seventies, and the walkway was lined with the cheerful faces of the pansies she’d set out in the fall. It was hard to imagine that a good part of the country was dealing with ice and snow and thinking longingly of spring.

  “I’ll be there the whole morning, unless I sell out earlier,” Kelsey warned.

  “We can keep out of trouble that long, can’t we, buddy?” he asked Danny.

  “Sure, Uncle Gage,” he agreed, his blue eyes bright with pleasure at being consulted.

  “It’s a lot to ask,” Kelsey said, thinking she shouldn’t take him up on his offer. “You’ve only got a few days home. It seems a shame for you to spend tomorrow stuck at a farmers’ market, communing with vegetables and fruits.”

  “Sounds good to me. We like vegetables and fruits, don’t we?”

  “Sure.” Danny’s agreement was a little less definite on this score.

  “I don’t know.” Kelsey eyed the two of them doubtfully. “It seems like a lot to ask.”

  “You’re right.” Gage lunged to catch a wild throw before looking at Kelsey. “It’s an enormous amount to ask. I can’t believe anyone would ask such a sacrifice. Fortunately for you, I volunteered.”

  “Did anyone ever tell you that sarcasm is unbecoming?”

  Gage gave the question some thought, his dark brows coming together in a frown. He shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. I’ve always thought it one of my better traits, actually.”

  Danny spoke before Kelsey could decide whether to laugh or throw something at Gage.

  “We’ll be good, Mama,” he assured her, moving to stand at the foot of the porch steps and look up at her, his eyes pleading. “We won’t be any trouble, will we, Uncle Gage?” He tilted his head back to look at Gage, his expression earnest.

  “We’ll be very good boys,” Gage confirmed, reaching down to ruffle the boy’s hair. He grinned at Kelsey, and it struck her that she’d never seen anyone who looked less like a good boy than Gage Walker. Not only was he most definitely a man but he was too wickedly attractive to look like anything but trouble.