“Don’t resent him for it, Kelly.”
“I don’t.”
“Maybe just a little?”
“Well, I’m not bitter, if that’s what you’re trying to say. A little envious, maybe. They’re going to have it a hundred times easier than I did, that’s all.”
“They love each other, very much.”
“I know,” Kelly said softly. “And I’m glad.”
“I never would have encouraged Sandy to marry Jarod if I hadn’t believed that. Just like I wouldn’t have encouraged you to marry David if I hadn’t believed that you two loved each other.” He sat back, his eyes twinkling. “I hear you’re living with him.”
Kelly gasped. “Well, you’re wrong!” Her voice dropped, as if she were talking to her self. “I knew it was a mistake to go over there. In a small town…”
“Small town talk is thorough, Kelly. I’ve heard that you and Jarod have both been staying over there, and that the household is chaperoned by a very proper butler.”
“Gentleman’s gentleman,” Kelly said.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Reeves calls himself a gentleman’s gentleman,” Kelly said, grinning. What a relief! She felt vindicated. “And besides,” Kelly said. “I’m not sure that you can actually live with a man who isn’t in town.”
“Flew back to D.C., did he?”
“You knew that, too?”
Dr. Barker lifted his hands. “Small town syndrome. When is he due back?”
“Today, tomorrow, I’m not sure.”
“Well,” the doctor mused. “I’m glad to see you smile, but I wouldn’t have let anything bother you, anyway—people talking is nothing but a bunch of poppycock.” He paused to wag a finger at her. “You just sit tight, Kelly McGraw. While that convict is running around, you opt for safety and don’t you worry about anything anybody says, you hear me?”
Kelly smiled and nodded, then stood up to leave. “Dr. Barker?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you worry about me. I have Jarod on my case as it is! I’m a big girl now, and even if I don’t have Dan Marquette’s experiences, I do have…”
“What?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe it is not the quantity of experience—but the quality that counts. At any rate, I’m fine, and I can take care of myself.”
“Good for you!”
Kelly left his office, smiled at his staff again and left. She felt like laughing, but also just a bit like crying. So, the whole town already knew what was going on….
She was glad that she had come anyway. Actually, she’d had no choice. She was a responsible adult, and this time she was going to be prepared!
Prepared, and out of a job, she thought as she walked out to the parking lot.
She gnawed lightly on her lower lip. Dan and Jarod and Reeves had been insistent that she not go home alone, not with the Peeper on the loose. But she had work to finish. She could do preliminary drawings at Dan’s, but she needed her board and her T-square and her pastels to do the final work.
Her work was a monthly project: Dark of the Moon was a comic book that came out twelve times a year, and she was lucky that she had just handed an issue in. But she was wasting an incredible amount of time. Dan didn’t waste time, she reminded herself bitterly. He had need to research something about the development of the flintlock pistol, so he had apologized profusely and taken off for Washington.
Kelly automatically headed for her own house. She just had to get some work done, or she would be up the creek without a paddle in a few days.
They would all be mad, of course. Men were like that. Jarod would be hurt that she hadn’t asked him to come along. Dan would be furious, and Reeves would shake his head in that way that could make her want to crawl under the table.
“I can’t say away from my house forever!” she said out loud. She paused in front of the house. Jarod would be at school for at least another hour. And Dan…
She hesitated, then decided not to park in the driveway. She went around to the old Ipsom house behind hers and parked underneath the oak. The Ipsoms wouldn’t care; they had moved away almost five years ago, and the house was still up for sale.
Kelly was a little nervous when she let herself in, she hadn’t been alone in the house since she had heard about the Peeper. But she locked the front door behind her and reminded herself that, after all, she hadn’t been hurt, just frightened. The Peeper—if that’s who the eyes had belonged to—hadn’t been inside.
And she felt good—really good! For the first time in years there was a man in her life. And what a man! She started humming and made herself a cup of coffee. Then she perched on her stool and stared down at her drawings. She picked up her pencil, and she was in such a good mood that she instantly had the White Knight rescue Daryl from a bubbling mire of black pitch, and Daryl was so taken by the kindness that he gave Esmeralda a clue to her lost brother’s whereabouts.
Images seemed to fly onto the paper. But it was her hand that flew, she knew. There was just nothing like love.
“And I am in love!” she whispered.
Only then did her hand pause. Was she really in love? Could love come that quickly? She wouldn’t dare tell Dan that she loved him. It was one thing to murmur in the afterglow of passion—weren’t men famous for doing just that?—but quite another to come right out and say it calmly and in all seriousness.
She sighed softly. Jarod seemed to be determined to warn her against the man who was going to be his father-in-law. Even Dr. Barker seemed ready to warn her about Dan.
“But I believe in him!” she told her pictures. “And I believe in me. It’s just that…”
Her voice trailed away. It was just so soon. There was being in love, and there was being in love with being in love, and she had been alone for a long, long time. She knew that at first she had been in love with being in love with David, the real emotions had grown slowly. Time and experience, the good and the bad, had made their love stronger and deeper, year by year.
But falling in love was the first step. The emotion couldn’t grow if you didn’t allow it to. If you didn’t take chances.
Suddenly she knew that she was willing to take chances. All kinds of chances. Even if it meant getting hurt. This would be a different kind of relationship. An adult relationship. There wouldn’t be any “have tos” this time. She wouldn’t have to marry him. If and when things went further, she would know this time that it was exactly what they both wanted. Smiling, Kelly took a sip of her coffee. And then she froze.
Someone was at her front door.
She slid off her stool, determined to walk calmly out to the hallway and look through the little peephole. It was probably the mailman, she told herself as she paused in the doorway. Or maybe…
It wasn’t the mailman, and it wasn’t anyone else legitimate. People who came to your door generally rang the bell or used the knocker—and her front door was already opening.
Kelly panicked, then told herself that she couldn’t panic. She had to hide, and she had to find something with which to defend herself.
She looked around desperately. Oh, God! Why did she have to be an artist? A pencil wasn’t exactly the best weapon in the world!
Glancing quickly around the room, she saw a heavy vase sitting over by the window. She grabbed it, then looked for someplace to hide. An artist’s drawing table didn’t provide the greatest cover in the world, either—a nearsighted slug would see her under it!
Menacing. As if someone knew that she was in the house. As if someone knew…and was stalking her.
“Oh, God!”
The words were a silent whisper on her lips. She looked at the phone, but it seemed so far away. And even if she did reach it, the intruder would hear her.
And the footsteps were coming closer. Any minute now the intruder would be in the room with her.
Kelly made a mad dive for the doorway, then stood there, praying that the ragged sound of her breathing wasn’t really as loud as it s
ounded to her. This couldn’t be happening, she told herself.
But it could.
The footsteps were coming closer. And closer.
She would have very little chance, she knew. She would have to strike immediately, strike hard, strike for all she was worth, and then run like the wind. Strike and run, strike and run….
The footsteps hesitated just outside the doorway, as if the intruder knew that she was there, just feet away. Waiting.
Another step.
He was there; one more step and she would have to strike. She couldn’t freeze, because if she did, it would be all over.
A floorboard gave; the step was taken.
Kelly let out a loud, desperate cry, then rushed from her hiding place behind the door with the vase raised. The intruder’s head, she noticed in an instant, was way above her. The room was dim and shadowy—crash!
And—slam!
She was gripped violently by the shoulders, then slammed back hard against the wall, a prisoner in his arms….
“Kelly!”
She heard her name as she was released and she realized dimly that it had been shouted out just after her vase had come down on the man’s head, just as she had come very close to hysteria, aware that she had been caught, and that her captor was far more powerful than she was.
“Oh!” she cried. Her panic faded instantly as she stared with dismay at Dan.
Dan, who was holding his head between his palms and staring at her in return.
“Dan! What are you doing here?”
“What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded furiously in return.
“I live here!”
“But you’re not supposed to be here!”
“Neither are you!”
“Ooh…damn!” he groaned, and felt his head gingerly. He turned back into the hall, then headed for the kitchen. Nervously, Kelly followed him. He was digging into the freezer for ice. She ran to a drawer to dig out a towel to hold the ice for him. Still staring at her furiously, he slid into a chair at the kitchen table.
“Here, let me help you,” she offered.
“No! Leave me alone!” He snatched the ice from her and held it to his temple. “Damn,” he muttered again.
She slid into a chair opposite him, her remorse disappearing in a rush of resentment. Men! It was almost as if they wanted you to be helpless, because as soon as you did something to fend for yourself, they were ready to kill you.
“Don’t keep looking at me like that! This is my house. You were the one sneaking around in it.”
“I wasn’t sneaking around. And you’re not supposed to be here! Damn you, Kelly, there’s a lunatic on the loose—”
“I have to work for a living. You know that.”
“I know that you’re as defenseless as a two-pound puppy.”
“Then why are you holding ice on your head?”
He let out a loud oath, dropped his ice and suddenly gripped Kelly, dragging her onto his lap, where he held her tightly in his arms.
“Let me go!”
He did, and she slid onto the floor. In fury she quickly scrambled to her feet and left the kitchen. So much for love! She couldn’t be in love with this stupid macho masher!
“Kelly!”
He was right behind her, catching her shoulders. She tried to shake him off, but you just didn’t shake off a man like Dan Marquette. Before she knew it she was backed against the wall again, staring into those deadly dark and ridiculously sexy eyes of his. And despite that the fact that she was furious, she was achingly aware of his body, hard and strong and very male, against hers, pinning her there. She was aware of his hands on her shoulders, of the feel of his fingertips.
She could feel his arms, and she could feel his hips, and she was sure that he was every bit as aware of her as she was of him. He, too, felt that incredible rush of instant desire, and that desire was growing, hot and hard against her, even as they stood there, ready to do battle.
“Fool!” he said suddenly, softly, harshly…heatedly.
“Fool!” Kelly repeated.
“I’m sorry!” he said, and his hands were on her cheeks, then and he was staring down into her eyes, staring with the same hunger that she felt. “Kelly, I was scared to death for you, that’s why I yelled. That’s why—”
“What are you doing here?” she asked a little desperately. “You’re not supposed to be in town. How did you get in?”
He was leaning closer to her. Once again, words didn’t matter.
“I have Jarod’s key. They’re coming to put in a security system, and I had to be here. And I didn’t tell you because I was pretty sure that you wouldn’t have let me do it.”
“I wouldn’t have…I won’t,” she protested, but it didn’t matter. His mouth came down on top of hers. Possessed it, owned it, ravaged it—and it was wonderful.
“Oh…”
They broke apart to breathe, and she slipped her arms around his neck, then pressed her face to his shoulder. His hand went to her throat and then her breast, and she thought of all the times when she had wanted so desperately to be with him, when they hadn’t touched each other, hadn’t dared, because Sandy and Jarod were with them.
“Kelly…”
“Dan…” she whispered in return. She wasn’t mad anymore; she was elated. Thrilled that they had both chosen to come here, because finally, they were alone again.
“I’ve missed you, I’ve missed your scent, and I’ve missed the feel of you. I’ve never known anything softer…”
“Oh, Dan…”
“Or more beautiful. There’s nothing more like spun gold than your hair, and—”
“Dan!”
“Kelly, darling…”
“No, no, Dan, listen! There’s someone at the door again! Someone just standing there!”
He swallowed sharply, then gave himself a shake and drew a ragged breath. “Oh, Lord.”
“Dan, listen!”
He broke away from her, bringing a finger to his lips. He walked silently over to the door, then gazed through the peephole. Kelly watched him step back, a look of incredulous dismay on his face.
Then he threw the door open.
Jarod was standing there, smiling, a little confused.
“Dan, my mother’s car is out back. I thought you weren’t going to tell her. I thought that this was going to be a surprise.”
“Oh, yeah. It’s been a great surprise.”
“She knows?”
“Hmm. She knows.”
Jarod stepped into the house, then whistled softly. “What happened to your head? It’s bleeding.”
“It’s just a scratch. I ran into a vase.”
“Ran into a vase?” Jarod murmured, frowning, but then he paused, turning around at the sound of slamming car doors coming from the driveway. “Oh, they’re here! The security guys.”
Dan nodded. “Let them in, will you, Jarod? I’ve already talked to them; they know what to do.”
He turned to walk back into the kitchen. Jarod started, suddenly noticing Kelly, who smiled uneasily and raced after Dan.
He had slumped back into a chair at the kitchen table and picked up the towel to wipe the little trickle of blood off his forehead.
“Dan,” Kelly said hesitantly. Then, more surely, she repeated, “Dan, I can’t let you do this. I don’t know what a good security system costs, but I can’t afford it right now, and I can’t let you—”
She broke off, because his expression had become dark and furious. “Dan?”
He stood up slowly. “Kelly, I can’t take it anymore. Can you? Hell, I didn’t have to leave town! I just couldn’t bear your being in bed in my house without me in that bed, too!”
“But…but…”
“Kelly, you can let me put this system in so that you and Jarod can come home, or we can say the hell with whatever the kids are going to think and you can move into my bedroom. I can’t stand this any longer. This is the most ridiculous relationship in the world! We’re adults, but we�
��re trying to act chaste because that’s the way we want our kids to behave. But it’s too late. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to do it any longer!”
Kelly inhaled slowly and shakily. He was making her furious, and she didn’t like his set of choices!
“Mom!” Jarod called from the living room. “They need to talk to you out here!”
She stared back at Dan and swallowed hard. She was in love with him, and, so help her, was beginning to think that he loved her, too. But she didn’t quite have the nerve yet to accept her son’s condemnation, to set that love before the world.
“You’ll be able to come home Friday or Saturday,” Dan said harshly.
“Mom!”
She felt all the tension—sexual, wonderful, frightening, taut and furious—in the man before her.
“I—I’m coming,” Kelly called to Jarod.
She was a coward. She wanted to love him, and she wanted to give herself to him completely. But not yet. Not quite yet.
She hurried out to the living room, feeling his eyes boring into her back.
CHAPTER 9
On Saturday afternoon they all went to Jarod’s game; it was an all-star game, with the income from ticket sales going to a local charity.
Jarod, Kelly noted, shone. He outdid even himself that day. He couldn’t miss. If he passed, the ball was caught. If he ran, he gained yard after yard.
Sitting in the stands, watching her son, Kelly felt set apart, alone despite the roar of the crowd. She felt as if she had managed to escape from her body, from her self, and stare down at Jarod, the past, the present—and the future.
Don’t take it too much to heart, she warned him silently. Don’t fall in love with the adulation of the crowd.
She knew how the afternoon would go, and she was a little worried. When the game was over, every girl from ten counties was going to cast herself at that perfect blond giant. And Jarod was only human, and capable of being a hell of a flirt.
Kelly came out of her reverie when she heard someone shout, “Kill ’em, McGraw! Kill ‘em out there!”
All in the Family Page 12