by Jane Toombs
Donning her robe, she crept up the steps to the loft with the flashlight lens shielded, allowing just enough light to guide her steps. Once in the loft she clicked it off, letting the moonlight slanting through the windows show her the way to Steve’s bed.
She was fascinated by how boyish he looked asleep when there seemed to be only a slight remnant of boyhood within the adult Steve—his sense of fun. And that hadn’t surfaced till the other day. Smiling, she set the flashlight on his bedside table, slipped off the robe, let it drop to the floor and started to ease under the covers alongside him.
Instantly he sat bolt upright, startling her so that she let out a squeak of surprise. He grabbed her by the shoulders, hard, hurting. “Steve!” she protested.
“Victoria?” His voice was almost a growl, but his grip eased.
“Who else were you expecting?”
After a short pause he said, “Sorry. Blame it on that thriller I finally finished.” He let her go. “I’m not all that accustomed to having beautiful, naked young women crawl into bed with me. As long as you’re here, though...” He urged her down along with him until they lay side by side.
“Maybe it was a mistake,” she said.
“Never. Did you know I dreamed of you earlier, dreamed you were here in bed with me, just like this?” He turned on his side and pulled her to him.
She found the brush of his chest hair against her bare breasts amazingly erotic. “That was a dream,” she murmured. “This isn’t. But you didn’t know it was me when I arrived in person, so who did you think was in your bed? One of the Adirondack bears?”
“Worse. You don’t want to know and I don’t want to waste our time explaining.” His mouth found hers.
Any desire to go on talking left her as she lost herself in the kiss. Her lips parted to let him come in and ravish her tongue. He was already aroused, she could feel his hardness pressing against her, and she snuggled closer, feeling her own need blossom deep inside her.
“You smell so good,” he whispered against her lips.
So did he. His scent was familiar now but that didn’t lessen its effect on her. She wanted to lie here forever in his arms, his lips on hers, breathing in his smell, tasting his essence, the silk of his hair under her fingers.
His mouth left hers to kiss his way to her ear. “I didn’t plan on us,” he murmured. “I didn’t stock up on any necessities and we’ve already taken one chance.”
“No need to worry,” she said softly, bemused by his warm breath tickling her ear.
Again they lay in moonlight. She hadn’t minded the pine needles the first time, but the bed was more comfortable. She ran her hand over the smooth skin of his back, savoring the sensation of the hard muscles beneath the softness. She’d never enjoyed touching a man so much as she did Steve.
Or being touched by him. His every caress tingled through her; he knew just where to explore and how, giving her exquisite thrills and driving her wild with need. Forget tomorrow or next week, or the month after. They were together now, this night, and nothing else mattered.
No woman had ever affected him the way Victoria did. Whatever it was about her—the satiny skin, her perfectly shaped breasts that fit into his hands as though made for them, the sweetness of her mouth—sent him up so high, he could hardly hold back.
The heat of her response when he kissed her and the way her body fit into his made him burn with need. He knew she was more than ready and he was on the cusp himself. He’d wanted to take forever but the night wasn’t yet over—there’d be time later for that.
He tore off his pajama pants and flung them aside. “Yes,” she whispered as he rose over her. “Yes, now.”
Then he was inside her, sheathed in her warmth and she moved with him in perfect rhythm as they showed each other the way to the moon.
When he could think again, he found himself cradling her in his arms, reluctant to let her go. His urgent desire was quieted for the moment but the need to hold her persisted.
“We fit well together,” he said softly.
“So perfectly it’s scary.” she agreed.
Scary? He tested the word. Did it apply to him? He didn’t think so. Hadn’t they reached an unspoken agreement that this wasn’t going to be forever? Maybe she meant the intensity of their coming together. That was something he’d never had before, something he savored.
“Why scary?” he asked.
“I don’t like to lose control.”
He could go with that; neither did he. “Isn’t the loss of control a given in what we’re doing?”
“Body control, yes. I meant-well, mental, I guess.”
“If you mean when we stop thinking—that’s a part of this, too.”
“Not exactly the thinking. More a loss of myself.”
He understood because he’d experienced a feeling with her, though never before with any other woman, the sensation that they were dissolving into one another. “Strong chemistry,” he said
“I can’t argue that point. Look where it’s led me.” She snuggled closer. “I didn’t even like you to begin with.”
“So you kept telling me in one way or another.” He rubbed his thumb over her nipple, relishing the way it peaked under his caress. “What changed your mind?”
“How can I think when you keep doing that?”
He licked her other nipple, desire creeping up on him again. This time there’d be no rush; this time would last the rest of the night.
Neither of them was prepared for Heidi’s predawn hunger call. Victoria reached blindly for the flashlight she’d left on the bedside stand and found herself holding an entirely different object.
“Good grief, it’s a gun!” she cried, putting it down as fast as she could and fumbling for the flashlight. She switched it on, glanced at the wicked-looking automatic lying there and turned a questioning gaze on Steve.
“How was I to know you weren’t a bear?” he said lightly and, to her ears, evasively. “We’d better get down there and feed the kid before she wears her lungs out.”
Though it was heartwarming to have him join her in caring for the baby, the presence of the gun left a sliver of uneasiness festering in her mind. Why did he feel it necessary to keep a pistol on hand when he slept? Was it because of the cabin’s isolation? But if that was the reason, why not simply say so?
The pistol on his nightstand nagged at her all the while she changed Heidi, till she finally realized why it had taken on such importance.
She turned to Steve who was warming the bottle and blurted, “The gun was gone, too.”
He blinked. “That flew past me. Care to try again?”
“Our father’s gun. He always kept it beside his bed. It disappeared the same night Renee did.”
“What kind of a gun?” Steve asked.
“A big black revolver with an elk engraved on the brown handle. He said it was a .45 Colt. When he got to drinking, sometimes he’d aim it at us, pretending he was going to shoot. Once the thing actually did go off and the bullet embedded itself in the wall between Renee and me. I’m still terrified of guns.”
“Some father you had.”
“After my mother and I left, I prayed I’d never see him again.”
She picked up the baby from the changing table and walked toward the rocker, disturbed by the tremors cycling through her. So long ago and it still affected her.
“You’re trembling,” he said. “Take it easy—lie on the couch. I’ll feed Heidi.”
Victoria handed the baby to him and took his advice. Bevins, who’d been let out of the shed when they first came downstairs, climbed onto her and licked her chin. He settled onto her stomach, purring, when she began petting him. For some reason, the cat’s presence comforted her.
“Nothing like a purr,” she said shakily.
“I’ll try it sometime,” Steve said from the rocker. “Do I get to lick your chin, too? Can’t promise to stop there, though.”
She smiled, the bad vibes fading.
A
fter a time he said, “If it will ease your mind, the gun on the bedside stand bit is a habit of mine. I carry one in my line of work and got into a routine of leaving it there when I went to bed.”
Victoria stared at him. “Are you some kind of a cop?”
“You might say so.”
“You don’t talk much about your work.”
“No.”
Just a flat no without any explanation. But, she decided, it was possible he couldn’t discuss what he did. His explanation for keeping the gun close at hand eased her mind. Alice, her psychologist neighbor across the hall in the apartment complex, believed all cops were a tad paranoid. Maybe they had reason to be.
“You’ll have to stop leaving your gun out when Heidi gets old enough to be curious about things,” she warned.
“I hadn’t got that far in my thinking. I do agree kids and guns don’t mix.”
By the time he finished feeding and burping the baby, Victoria was sitting up, feeling back to normal. As he settled Heidi into the cradle, Victoria carried the kitten back to the shed.
Returning, she stopped beside Steve and said, “I need to be in my own bed for what’s left of the night.”
He nodded, hugged her and headed for the loft.
Victoria climbed into bed, expecting to lie awake until dawn, but fell asleep within minutes.
Up in the loft, Steve lay awake, upset about Victoria. No wonder seeing the gun had spooked her. If he’d known, he’d have stashed it in the drawer. His mind fixed on the coincidence of her sister and their father’s gun vanishing on the same night. Had Victoria’s drunken father accidentally shot Renee? Buried her along with the gun?
Steve shook his head, rejecting the scenario. Unless you were way out in the boondocks, someone always heard a gunshot and would have reported it once the police started investigating the girl’s disappearance.
Still, it was strange....
He closed his eyes, breathing in the faint traces of Victoria’s scent that clung to the bedclothes. She always smelled like flowers. Which reminded him of what she’d said about Willa and the moon blossoms. The moon had set hours ago but it had shone in his windows earlier, silvering Victoria’s beautiful body....
Enough of that, he warned himself. Fix your mind on something else or you’ll never get to sleep. Think about Nevada, and Karen’s extended family. Her husband’s twin, Talal, and his wife, Linnea, might be gone from the ranch by now, living in their new house. Linnea had delivered twins several months ago. A wonder Talal didn’t insist on his kids being born in Kholi. Probably not safe for him over there yet. Kholi’s a strange country.
Kholi. Steve’s eyes popped open. Cold, Kholi. Very similar. Is Kholi the word Kim had said to Victoria? What would link Oni Farraday and Malengo to that Arab country? He’d get the agency on it when he called them from Hanksville later today. He’d give Talal a call, as well.
In the morning sky, the sun flirted with flocks of fleecy white clouds. “Thunderheads by this afternoon,” Steve predicted as they left the cabin behind.
“So we may get rained on?” Victoria asked, worrying about the baby in her kangaroo pouch.
“We ought to be back before then. There’s not much reason to hang out in Hanksville, as you’ll see.”
Joker, bounding ahead of them on the trail, stopped and looked back to make sure they were still with him. Steve carried a leash in his backpack but had told her that he hoped to control the dog by commands rather than by restraint. She had to agree the dog did obey well—except for escaping when he was tied up.
Victoria decided not to worry about possible rain. The day was pleasantly warm and, though she hadn’t minded the cabin’s isolation, hiking down the trail felt like a real adventure.
“Is this the only way to get to Hanksville?” she asked.
“Essentially yes, though another trail from Willa’s cabin joins this one farther along. If you want to take the van, you have to drive down to Aylestown and go around the mountain to get there.”
Which set her off singing “She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain.”
“Haven’t heard that one in years,” he said and, to her surprise, joined in.
Victoria had never felt more lighthearted. Her stressful job was far away, she was in the mountains she loved, with Steve and Heidi and, for the moment, at least, she hadn’t a care in the world.
How she loved the scent of the evergreens and the sound of the breeze in their branches. As they descended, from the trees squirrels challenged their right to pass. Peering up to try to spot them, Victoria saw a hawk soaring high above.
Up ahead, Joker started to chase some small animal a chipmunk? into the underbrush, but returned on Steve’s command to heel. Why, she wondered, had such a well-trained dog become a stray?
She enjoyed every moment of the trek down the mountain but when they reached Hanksville, she saw what Steve meant. Rather than the picturesque village she had in mind, it looked to be a tired, run-down place with the few buildings along the main street badly in need of paint.
“I need to make a couple phone calls,” Steve said, stopping at a pay phone by the lone gas station. “The general store’s over there.” He pointed across the street. “I’ll meet you inside.”
Seeing the U.S. flag flying from a pole in front of the store, Victoria decided it might also be the post office. She was right. Opening her fanny pack, she removed the sheet of paper she’d scribbled her note to Alice on, bought a stamped envelope at the post office counter and addressed it. Wrapping the note around her key to the mailbox, she slipped it inside, sealed the envelope and pushed it through the mail slot.
Then she wandered through the store, finding a pair of pajamas she thought would fit Steve—maybe he’d get rid of those ratty bottoms then. She picked up various small items, including a brightly colored rattle for Heidi. After paying for everything, she shook the rattle in front of the baby, pleased to note that Heidi was able to focus on the toy. So far the baby showed every evidence of normal development.
“Cute little tyke,” the gray-haired woman clerk said. “Got hair as red as yours, I see. Gonna be a handful when she starts walking, I bet.”
“She’s a handful now,” Steve said from behind Victoria.
“Looks just like your wife,” the clerk told him.
For some reason Victoria flushed, making him grin at her. As they walked away from the counter, Steve said, “I take it you don’t consider that a compliment.”
Finding her emotions in turmoil, she didn’t reply. What was there to say anyway?
“Are you through in here?” he asked.
She nodded.
“The prettiest spot in Hanksville is up the road a bit,” he said. “It’s a little park by the river. Unless both picnic tables have fallen into ruin by now, we can eat our sandwiches there.”
“And change Heidi,” she added.
He rolled his eyes. “Always that. I never realized babies made a career out of elimination.”
That made her smile. It seemed he was always making her smile lately.
He bought two cans of soda before they left the store and headed for the park. One, she noticed, was her favorite drink. She hadn’t realized he’d paid any attention to what it was.
“Did you get your calls made okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. My sister’s brother-in-law, Talal, claims he’s being run ragged by their unexpected twins, now around nine months old.”
Victoria was willing to take even money that wasn’t why he’d called his sister’s brother-in-law, but she also knew it was all she was likely to hear about. “Do twins run in the family?” she asked.
“More or less. Talal and my sister Karen’s husband are identical twins. Talal’s aren’t identical, though. He and Linnea had a boy and a girl. Shas and Ellen.”
“Shas is an unusual name.”
“Talal’s from Kholi—it was his father’s name. Zed’s father, too, actually, though Zed was brought up in this country. Rather complicated.
Sometime I’ll tell you the whole strange story.”
He’d already told her more about himself and his family than she’d ever expected to hear from the Steve she’d met in the beginning. Not that he didn’t keep things back. Like the gun.
The little park was empty except for them. Steve used a plastic bag to scrape an accumulation of brown pine needles and other debris from the table that looked to be in the best shape.
Joker. who’d behaved impeccably in the village, not even trying to escape when Steve snapped his leash on and tied him outside the store, waded into the shallows of the river and lapped up water while Victoria changed the baby on the table.
“I really do feel like I’m on vacation,” she told Steve. “And one I badly needed.”
“You only vaguely resemble that tired, downtrodden nurse I met in the hospital.”
She made a face at him. “I might have been tired, but no one trods me down.”
He chuckled. “No argument.”
They took turns feeding Heidi while they ate themselves. Joker accepted the leftovers with relish.
“Ready for the hike back up the mountain?” he asked.
She nodded.
“None of this ‘anything you can do I can do better’ flak,” he warned. “If you get winded, say so. We can rest, I can take the baby—whatever.”
“Hey, I may be competitive, but I’m not crazy enough to half kill myself to prove some dubious point. Besides, I already know which is the superior sex.”
Steve grinned at her. Victoria, it occurred to him, had him smiling more in one day then he usually did in a week. Damn it, he was actually happy.
Even what he’d gleaned from talking with the agency couldn’t cloud his mood. Mikel Starzov had gotten on the phone and revealed more than the guarded info Steve usually got from the boss.
They suspected a terrorist link between a group in Kholi and some still undiscovered contacts in this country, so what Steve had told Mikel about Kim’s message concerning Oni Farraday was gratefully received. Seems she’d been importing Arabian colts from Kholi. They’d look very carefully at the next shipment.