by Deborah Camp
Through His Heart
~♥~
Deborah Camp
Copyright 2015 by Deborah Camp
Contents
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
The heart can see what blinds the eyes.
~♥~
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.
Acknowledgements
Cover design by Patricia Schmitt (Pickyme)
I owe a debt of gratitude to Joyce Anglin and Pat Wade for helping prepare this for publication.
Thanks always to Barbara Lowenstein and Associates for their excellent advice and professional guidance.
Big hugs to the bloggers and readers who share my passion for Trudy and Levi. Keep in touch! Drop by my website at www.deborah-camp.com
Chapter 1
Shadowy images crept through Trudy Tucker’s slumbering mind and a voice – a small, singsong voice whispered to her – Sending you an SOS. Sending you an SOS. Trudy shifted, feeling claustrophobic. In her mind’s eye she saw a bed with a pink, chenille bedspread and a girl on it. The girl’s eyes were closed, but she wasn’t sleeping. She sniffed as if she had a cold or had been crying. She wore a pair of blue pants and a rainbow-striped top with puffy sleeves. Red tennis shoes encased her little feet. She was maybe seven or eight years old.
“Are you singing, pixie?” A deep voice this time. A man’s voice.
“Mommy!” the little girl’s voice broke on a sob.
“She’s not here and she won’t be here. You have me now. You don’t need her anymore.”
The girl on the bed sobbed. Satisfaction spread through the man and leached into Trudy. God was grinning. God was pleased.
“Tru? Trudy?”
The images and thoughts disintegrated and Trudy awakened to stare into cobalt blue eyes – blue as the sea, true blue. Leviticus Wolfe. Her Levi.
“You were dreaming . . . I think,” Levi said.
Trudy glanced around the first-class cabin of the airplane. There were six others seated in first-class along with her and Levi. No one but Levi was giving her any attention – and she was glad for that because she hadn’t been dreaming. She’d been channeling. When she slipped into the mind of a stranger she lost herself, unaware of her surroundings. She only saw, felt, and smelled what the other person experienced. Emerging from a psychic session was often like being jarred awake from a nightmare and discovering that the people around you had been ogling you, looking at you as if you’d lost your mind. It was beyond embarrassing.
“Not a dream,” she whispered, sitting up straighter in the seat. Levi’s gaze sharpened, a frown line appearing between his eyes. “A little girl and some man,” she explained. “She asked for her mother and he told her she wouldn’t see her mother again.”
Levi’s chest rose and fell with his sigh. “Any idea who they are?”
She fixed her attention fully on him. Her feelings were still stinging from the cold temper he’d unleashed on her a few hours ago in Atlanta when she’d tried to get him to speak to his stepmother on the phone. She’d hardly recognized him as he’d demanded that she end the call. She had certainly not cared for the way he’d spoken to her. Evidently, his stepmother had been trying to reach him for days about a matter of “life or death.” Trudy had begged him to simply speak to the woman and he had snarled at her to “do as I say and hang up the fucking phone!”
His livid anger had made her suspicious. While she understood that he despised his famous father, an evangelical TV minister – and had good reason to – as far as she knew, Levi had never even met his stepmother, so why was he refusing to listen to her plea for help? Was it something to do with his father? Was he ill or dying?
While Levi had been checking them in at the airport, she’d used her mobile to do a quick Internet search. Since his father and stepmother were public figures, any news about them would be easy to dig up – and she’d hit pay dirt.
John Comfort, Levi’s father, and his wife AmyLynn were searching for AmyLynn’s youngest daughter, Rachel, who had been kidnapped a week ago. Naturally, Levi had said nothing to her about it. In fact, he was playing dumb about the whole thing and doing a piss-poor job of it in her estimation.
“I’m sure the child has been taken from her parents. Do you have any clue about who this kidnapped child might me?” she challenged him.
He gave a quick shake of his head. “I’ve told you. I don’t get involved in disappearances involving children.”
She twisted a little to get a straight-on look at him. “And why is that?” Although she felt much closer to Psychic Extraordinaire Leviticus Wolfe now that they were in a committed relationship and had agreed to live together, there was still so much about him that she didn’t know or understand. What she did know was troubling. John Comfort and his first wife – Levi’s deceased mother – had virtually abandoned him when he was nine and the treatment he’d endured at the faith-based schools they’d sent him to had scarred his heart and soul.
“What do you have against children in jeopardy?” she asked him, puzzled. Given his horrific childhood, it would seem logical that he’d be eager to help them.
He shifted slightly and jerked at the lapels of his suit jacket. “Nothing. I just don’t like to work on cases that involve children. It’s not my thing.”
She could tell he was uncomfortable, but it was so obvious that he was dodging the subject of what was going on in his father and stepmother’s lives that it made it hard to just shove it aside. Lingering anger clouded his eyes as he glanced at her.
“Drop it,” he said through gritted teeth.
Oh, he shouldn’t have gone there! She’d been about to clamp down on her line of questioning, but that curt order renewed her determination to knock down each and every No Trespassing sign he’d erected over the years.
“Why isn’t it your thing?” she pressed. “I want to know.”
He shot her a quelling glare. “No reason. We’re coming into Tulsa.” He looked past her to the window. “Recognize anything out there?”
“Of course. I was raised here.” She didn’t even bother to look out the window, knowing it was a diversionary tactic – and not a particularly adept one. Eyeing him and sensing the crackle of his irritation, she leaned closer. “Do you like children? I mean, you’re not a W. C. Fields or anything like that, are you?”
“You’ve watched W.C. Fields’ movies?”
“A couple. His shtick was being annoyed with children and not being very nice to them.”
“That’s not my shtick. I just prefer to work on cases dealing with adults. Fasten your seatbelt, Tru.”
“You’re still pissed off, aren’t you? About the phone call from AmyLynn Comfort.”
“That’s history.” His tone was level, but distinctly
cool.
She started to tell him that she knew what “life or death” dilemma his stepmother had been referring to, but the announcement that they would be landing in a few minutes derailed her. Besides, he had enough to worry about at the moment. Within a few minutes, he’d be on her home turf and meeting her family for the first time.
Trudy buckled herself in and looked out the window at Tulsa’s downtown skyline in the distance. Unbidden, the plaintive sound of the little girl’s voice replayed in her head. Sending you an SOS.
“That’s a Sting song,” she said.
“What is?”
“Sending you an SOS. It’s a Sting song.”
He nodded, running a hand down his black and white striped tie. “Message in a Bottle.”
“That’s what the little girl was singing.”
“What was the kidnapper thinking?”
“Something about God being happy. I wasn’t able to connect with him for very long.” She had the ability to get into other people’s head, but it was always murderers, rapists, and other demented people. A few years ago, she’d been so terrified of her visions that she’d considered suicide, but then she’d met Quintara, a self-proclaimed mentor for psychics. Quintara had made her see that her ability was an asset, not a curse. Then Levi had decided they would make a good partnership since he channeled the deceased and she could delve into the minds of the perpetrators. With Quintara’s blessing – and a little matchmaking – Levi had taken over as her teacher. And then he’d become her lover. Her everything.
He glanced at his watch. “What’s the plan when we land? Shall we rent a car and then go to your place first?”
“Someone will be there to pick us up.”
“What do you mean? Like a chauffeur?”
She had to laugh at that. “No. I mean that someone in my family will be at the airport waiting for us. Daddy or maybe my brother.”
“Why?” He frowned. “We’re going to rent a car, so—.”
“Why would we do that? I have a car.”
“That one you drove in Florida?”
She nodded, remembering his undisguised distaste for her mode of transportation when they’d worked on their first case together in the Keys. With a start, she realized that the ritual of loved ones meeting you at the airport was foreign to him because his family had never welcomed him home. They’d only sent him packing, over and over again. She patted his hand on the armrest. “I’ve never flown home and not had a family member or friend pick me up at the airport. It’s what most people do, so get used to it.”
“I’ll want a car, so I should rent one while I’m at the terminal.”
“Levi, you can use mine. It won’t kill you to drive something that doesn’t cost fifty thousand dollars or more.” She grinned, knowing he was picturing her Ford Fiesta and cringing at the thought of driving or even riding in it again. He could be such a snob.
The plane began its descent and the noise level made it too difficult to talk. Trudy looked out the window as the plane touched down and taxied to the gate. As soon as the signal binged and the captain gave his “all clear” speech, Levi was out of his seat and pulling their carry-ons from the overhead compartments. Trudy grabbed her purse and her Chihuahua, Mouse, who was safely tucked inside a pet taxi.
“Got her?” Levi asked, turning sideways to let Trudy walk past him.
“Yes, she’s fine. You go first and part the waters for us.”
He winked at her and led the way from the plane. Trudy admired his perfectly tailored, dark gray suit and the way it hugged his wide shoulders and lean frame. He was exceptionally handsome and she was well aware of the admiring looks he received. Some women even did a double-take – he was that cover model gorgeous with his jet black hair, dark blue eyes, and chiseled features. Of course, some of the people recognized him because he was the most publicized psychic around, having written best-selling books, appearing on television talk shows often, and touring the country. He was quite the showman.
He bordered on being pretty – and he usually accepted her teasing endearment my pretty with a begrudging smile and a slight wince because he knew it was true.
She had never thought of herself as pretty. Attractive, sometimes. Cute, most of the time. Pretty? No. Beautiful? Absolutely not! Not until Levi had called her that. For the first time in her life, she’d believed it. In his eyes, in his arms, she was pretty – beautiful. It was a revelation – a celebration. With him, she was sexy, sensuous, and could give and take pleasure in equal measure.
A few months ago, she would never have believed that she could even entice a man like Leviticus Wolfe, let alone keep him interested in her. But now she knew better. Now she felt that Levi loved her and didn’t want any woman but her. There was incredible power in knowing that. It had changed her – transformed her – given her confidence she had lacked. When she’d returned to Tulsa after she and Levi had flushed out a serial killer in Key West, everyone in her family had sensed the difference in her. They’d known that she was in love. And now they would actually meet the man who had claimed her heart.
She knew he was nervous, although he kept telling her he wasn’t. He wore a slight scowl and his jaw was firmed. His gaze swept the faces before them, darting from one to the next. Smiling to herself, Trudy surveyed the people standing near the gate and spotted her sister. She lifted a hand and Sadie waved back at her.
“It’s Sadie,” she told Levi, hooking her free hand in the crook of his arm and moving toward her older sister. “Hi! Thanks for meeting us.” She kissed Sadie’s cheek and hugged her. “Sadie, this is Levi. Levi, Sadie.”
“Oh, my gosh!” Sadie’s hazel eyes widened as she stared at him. “You’re even better looking in person.” She’d confessed to Trudy that she’d been lusting after Levi when he’d made television appearances before Trudy had even met him. “How is that fair?” she asked Trudy.
“It’s not fair,” Trudy agreed. “It just is. He was obviously first in line when they were handing out the handsome gene.”
Levi glanced up as if for divine guidance. “Thank you, ladies. It’s the cross I must bear. Sadie, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. You didn’t have to come here. I’m renting a car.”
“Why would you do that?” Sadie inched back her head to give him an incredulous once-over. “Trudy has a car – and an RV.”
“Yes, I know. I’ve been in both of them,” he said, drolly, making Trudy giggle.
“Come on. Let’s get the rest of our luggage.” Trudy tugged on his arm and grinned at her sister. “I’m home! God, it’s good to be home!”
###
Trudy hoisted her luggage onto the vanity bench in her bedroom and listened to Levi’s footfalls on the hallway’s hardwood floor and then on the bathroom tiles.
“This is some bathtub,” he said, his raspy voice carrying to her. “An old claw-footed one. Thank God there’s a shower, too.”
She smiled fleetingly as she popped open the luggage and began removing her clothes. “We’re expected at Mom and Dad’s for dinner in about two hours.”
“That’s good.” He came to stand in the doorway, leaning one shoulder against the facing and folding his arms against his chest. “This place looks like you.”
“Oh? Old and ordinary?”
He shook his head slowly, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Unique, warm, and sentimental.”
“Sentimental? My house is sentimental?”
“It’s full of things that mean something to you. I bet I could point out anything in here and you’d have a story to tell about it.”
Glancing around at her knickknacks and furniture, she realized he was dead-on. “You might be right. So, you think you could be comfortable living here with me?”
“Like I’ve told you before, I could be comfortable living on a flat rock with you.”
“You like my old-fashioned tub?”
“I’d like to be in it with you – naked.”
“We’ll have to try that later.”
“How about now?”
“We don’t have time.”
“We have two hours.” He straightened and plucked the underwear she was unpacking from her hands and tossed them back into the suitcase. “Let’s try out the bed.” He wrapped an arm about her waist and tugged her toward it. His fingers brushed across the bedspread. “What is this?”
“Chenille,” she said, laughing a little. “It’s old.”
He gathered a corner of the pink bedspread with its fuzzy white strips of chenille and pulled it from the mattress to expose an expanse of pale pink sheets and big pillows covered in cotton cases, embroidered with cabbage roses. When he placed a knee on the mattress, the iron bedstead sang out with a loud creak. Levi’s eyes found Trudy’s.
“Is this thing safe?”
Laughing, Trudy spun around and fell back onto it. The springs creaked more, making her laugh harder. “See for yourself – or are you chicken?”
He planted his fists on either side of her hips and climbed on top of her, his mouth finding hers in a deep, long kiss as she shoved his jacket off his shoulders and grabbed his tie. “Time to make your bed our bed,” he murmured.
“We can’t be late for dinner.”
“I know,” he said against her lips before dragging his mouth across her cheek, down the side of her neck, along her shoulder. He let her pull his tie up and over his head as he unbuttoned her blouse.
They undressed each other, tossing aside their clothes, smiling at each other, murmuring to each other. He kissed her nipples, drawing on them until they tingled and grew ruby red. She ran her hands up and down his sides, feeling the corded and bunched muscles under his warm skin. Her fingers combed through his soft, thick hair as he settled his lower body between her thighs and pushed inside her. Gasping with delight, she grabbed onto his hips and thrust hers up.
“God, Levi, you feel so good,” she whispered in his ear. “You always take my breath away.”