by Cassie Miles
“I know what my son needs.”
“What?” He scoffed. “Peanut butter and jelly pancakes?”
“It’s the same thing every child needs. The love of his parents.”
Neil seemed taken aback. The muscle in his jaw worked as he tried to think of what to say next. In a tone of barely suppressed fury, he said, “You know I love Benjy.”
“Not exactly,” she said. “You value his intelligence. You want to show him off, to have him recite all the presidents like a trained monkey. He’s more than a brain, more than potential. He’s a little boy who needs to run around and get dirty and throw pebbles in a creek.”
“Oh, I see. And I suppose you consider it a vital use of his time to hang around in a cheap breakfast restaurant.”
“That’s my decision. I’m his mother.”
“Angela, please. I don’t want to hurt you. We can work out our problems. For Benjy’s sake.”
She shook her head. “There’s nothing to work out.”
“I’m willing to forgive you.”
Shane heard a note of desperation in Neil’s voice—a sure indication that he was near the breaking point and, therefore, more of a threat. Shane cleared his throat as a reminder that he was still nearby. “Neil, it’s time for you to move on.”
“We don’t need your interference.” He wheeled around to face Shane. “You’ve done enough, poisoning her mind against me. Everything was fine until you came along.”
“Fine?” Angela snapped. “Is it just fine for you to drug me? To have your little protégé stalk me?”
He swung back to face her. “Come back to me, Angela. We can still be married. There doesn’t have to be a big ceremony. All we need is a justice of the peace.”
She stuck out her chin. “Go to hell.”
“You little bitch.” He grabbed hold of her shoulders. “You can’t say no to me. I won’t let you.”
Shane caught hold of his left arm, intending to separate him from Angela. As he yanked them apart, Neil’s right hand flicked out. If he hadn’t been off balance, he would have slapped her face. As it was, he hit her shoulder. The force of his blow was enough to knock her backward into the car.
Shane twisted Neil’s left arm behind his back and shoved hard. Neil stumbled and toppled forward. His knees collapsed. In seconds, he was lying facedown in the parking lot. Shane cuffed him.
He looked toward Angela. “Are you all right?”
Mutely, she nodded. She held her shoulder where Neil had made contact. Her eyes were wide and surprised as though she couldn’t believe what had just taken place.
The other deputy joined them, and Shane left Neil to him as he went to Angela. “Are you sure you’re not hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
“I want you to take my car and follow us to the courthouse. We need to get you a restraining order.” He checked her for symptoms of shock. Her breathing was regular and steady. Her pupils weren’t dilated. “Are you okay to drive?”
“Totally fine,” she repeated in a firm voice. She leaned closer to him and whispered, “You saved me again, my hero.”
While she got in the car, Shane and the other deputy hauled Neil to his feet. With great satisfaction, Shane said, “Neil Revere, you’re under arrest for assault.”
“You won’t get away with this,” Neil snarled.
Shane dug into Neil’s pocket for his car keys which he handed to the other deputy. “Would you mind moving the car? It’s blocking the parking lot.”
“No problem.”
He escorted Neil to the police vehicle and stood facing him. “Here’s the deal. Angela is going to take out a restraining order. You can’t come within a hundred feet of her.”
“Do you think you can stop me?”
“A word of advice. Don’t push me.”
“What are you going to do?”
Constrained by his duty as a deputy, Shane fought the urge to drive his fist into Neil’s gut. Beating a man in handcuffs wasn’t his style, but he might be willing to make an exception for Neil.
“Someday,” he said, “you and I are going to meet face-to-face, man-to-man. And I’ll teach you what happens when you threaten women and children.”
“You can’t hurt me. I’ll be out on bail within a few hours.”
“Not until after you’ve gone through the booking process. You know the drill. The photograph. The fingerprinting. And the DNA swab.”
“A DNA swab?”
“Standard procedure,” Shane said, even though they seldom bothered with DNA. “Then you’ll be locked in a holding cell along with the other local miscreants.”
None too gently, he shoved his prisoner into the back of the car.
He glanced toward the far end of the parking lot. Prentice’s fancy SUV was gone. A clean getaway.
SHANE WOULD BE WILLING to wager a month’s salary that the arrest and booking process was unlike anything Neil Revere had ever experienced. Since everybody at the courthouse knew he’d attacked Angela and she happened to be their number one favorite chef, the officers treated him with as much disrespect as the law allowed. Their timing was such that Neil was assured of spending the night in a jail cell. Shane wished the accommodations had been more medieval—like a dungeon.
After Angela had filed her restraining order, they headed out toward the horse ranch where Benjy had been spending the afternoon. Their route navigated a maze of side roads to get there. Shane had chosen this place because it was off the beaten path.
While he drove, Angela filled him in on her meeting with Prentice. She mentioned that Prentice owned property in this general area and that Carlson had lived in Aspen at one time. Both of these leads would help in getting to the bottom of Neil’s motives and the scheme he had intended to carry out.
“Anything else?” he asked.
Her shoulder twitched as though she wanted to dodge the question. “I don’t think so.”
Her high ponytail was unfastened and her hair tumbled around her face, shielding her expression, but she couldn’t hide her feelings. Not only was she a lousy liar but he knew her well enough to sense her moods and her attitudes.
“You might as well tell me,” he said.
“Tell you what?”
“You’re holding something back. And it’s going to eat at you until you finally blurt it out.” He knew how her mind worked. “The more information I have, the sooner we get to the bottom of this.”
“His eyes,” she said. “Prentice took off his glasses and I saw the color of his eyes. Blue-gray. Exactly the same color as Benjy’s.”
It took a moment for him to absorb the weight of her observation. Prentice was involved in genetic engineering and had created the frozen embryo used in Angela’s IVF procedure. Could he have used his own sperm? “We need to talk to Eve again. She might know where we can access Prentice’s DNA profile.”
“What if he’s Benjy’s biological father?” The twin worry lines between her brows appeared as her eyes narrowed. “I know it shouldn’t bother me. I know that Benjy is my son no matter what the genetics. But damn!”
“We’ll figure it out. I promise we’ll find the truth.”
“Maybe it’s better if I don’t know,” she said.
Eve and her husband had come to the same conclusion. After they’d learned that all the babies in the Prentice-Jantzen study were not the biological offspring of the parents who raised them, they decided against making that information public.
Shane didn’t agree. He would have arrested Prentice for fraud and informed the injured parties. At least Eve and her husband had insisted that Prentice close down his practice in Aspen and retire so he couldn’t cause further harm.
Shane turned onto a two-lane gravel road. They were only a few miles from the horse ranch. “Prentice should have to pay for his crime. He experimented without your permission, violated your trust.”
“Violated,” she said. “That’s a good word for how I feel.”
“When Benjy’s DNA test comes b
ack—”
“I won’t prosecute,” she said. “I don’t want to go through a trial. Prentice is a well-connected man who can hire good lawyers. I’m sure this case would be tied up in court for years, and the process would be more hurtful for me than for him. No way. As long as Prentice can’t hurt anybody else, I don’t care what he does.”
Her reaction reminded him of a rape victim refusing to testify. Angela hadn’t been assaulted, but the result was the same. Gently, he said, “This isn’t your fault.”
“Pull over,” she said. “I need to take a minute to calm down before I see Benjy. He’s a smart little guy. As soon as he sees me, he’ll know I’m upset.”
He parked. On one side of the road was a forested hillside. The other was fenced.
Angela left the car and went toward the trees. Without a word, she hiked up the sloping hill, picking her way through pines and shrubs. She moved at a quick pace for a flatlander who wasn’t acclimated to the altitude, but that didn’t surprise him. She’d always been an avid runner.
They were almost out of sight of his vehicle when she turned and faced him. Her cheeks flushed red. Her breasts rose and fell as she sucked down one deep breath after another.
He couldn’t tell if she was going to burst into tears or scream or let go with a string of curses. Whatever her response, he was here for her.
“If it weren’t for you,” she said, “I’d be falling apart right now.”
“Give yourself some credit.” He stepped up beside her. “You’re plenty strong enough to stand on your own two feet.”
She went up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. At the last minute, she changed directions. Her soft, full lips pressed against his.
In that moment, everything changed.
Chapter Seventeen
Angela hadn’t meant to kiss Shane, hadn’t meant to touch him, hadn’t meant to feel this burst of attraction. He was her best friend, someone she could trust, someone she cared for deeply. She loved him. But not this way.
Intending to apologize for overstepping an unspoken boundary, she tilted her head back and looked up. The boughs of the tall pines formed a ladder reaching into the skies. But all she saw was the blue of his eyes, and in them her desire reflected.
Deliberately, she glided her hand up his chest and around his neck. She pulled him close and kissed him for real. Her lips parted, and she drew his breath into her mouth.
He didn’t move. His body was like granite, strong and steady. Even if she’d had a momentary lapse of judgment, he would resist.
She stammered, “I…I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.”
His hand clasped her waist, and he molded her body against his. They fit perfectly, as though they were meant to be joined. He kissed her back.
There was nothing gentle about the way his mouth worked over hers. Nothing timid about his hard, muscular body. Nothing reserved about the pure masculine energy sweeping over her.
In his arms, her heart was singing. A strange and wonderful heat coursed through her veins. He lifted her off the ground, and her legs wrapped around him. She clenched her thighs and held on, never wanting to let go.
Her back was against the trunk of a tree. They twined together so tightly that it seemed as if they were part of the forest. They had grown together.
Coming up for air, she inhaled a sharp gasp. A first kiss was supposed to be clumsy and hesitant, but Shane was masterful in his passion. His gaze penetrated deep inside her.
“I’ve waited so long,” he murmured.
“Me, too.” And here he was—a man she already loved as a friend. A lover? “I didn’t know, didn’t even know that I was waiting. Did you? Did you know?”
“In my dreams.”
He eased his grasp and her legs slipped free. Her toes touched the ground. “You dreamed about me?”
“Being with you was more than I could hope for.”
She tasted his mouth again. His kiss was magic, sparking tremors and shivers that she’d never experienced before. Her entire body—from the roots of her hair to her toenails—seemed to shimmer. “I don’t want to stop.”
“We don’t have to.”
But she knew better. Not matter how much she wanted to tear off his clothes and make love right here and now, she was a responsible person. They both were. “We’re already late to pick up Benjy.”
He dropped a light kiss on her forehead. “This isn’t over.”
“I certainly hope not.”
She rested her head against his chest. She’d been in this position a thousand times before—hugging him when she was happy and crying on his shoulder when her life had shattered. Shane was always there for her. He was her rock.
But this moment felt different. Instead of clinging to him, she caressed his back, tracing her fingertips along his spine. She was aware, suddenly aware, that her best friend was a desirable man. His scent aroused her. Through his deputy uniform shirt, she heard the beating of his heart as a primal rhythm, summoning her.
Over the years, she’d seen the way other women threw themselves at Shane. Angela knew he was hot; she’d have to be blind not to notice how handsome he was. But she never imagined that he would be her lover.
He took her shoulders and held her apart from him. The blue of his eyes intoxicated her. She stared at his lips, wanting another kiss or two…or twenty.
“Angela,” he said, calling her back to reality. “You’re still my buddy. Understand?”
“Mmm.” At the moment, friendship wasn’t the first thing on her mind. “Tell me about those dreams.”
“Can’t. It’s a guy thing.”
She teased, “You fantasized about me. You think I’m pretty. You think I’m sexy.”
He kissed the smirk off her lips, leaving her breathless. Then it was his turn to laugh. “I think you’re a brat. Just as you’ve always been.”
“Life goes on.”
As they climbed down the hill and got back into his car, she wondered how her new vision of Shane would alter their relationship. Earlier, she’d been worried that Benjy would see anger and frustration in her manner. Her son would probably notice that she was glowing like a hot ember.
She tore her gaze away from Shane and stared through the car window as they approached the horse ranch. Beside the road, a log fence enclosed a huge field. Tucked into the pine forest that descended from the rocky foothills was a two-story house and a couple of outbuildings that she assumed were stables. Several horses lounged beside a trough like office workers taking a break at the water cooler.
The man who owned this ranch, Calvin Pratt, was an old friend of Shane’s family and the head of a huge extended family. He had six of his grandchildren—ranging in age from three to twelve—staying with him for the summer, and he had a live-in housekeeper to help take care of them. Angela couldn’t have asked for a better place to leave her son.
“You’re quiet,” Shane said.
Uncomfortable silences had never been a problem before.
Trying to slip back into friendship mode, she said, “I called Yvonne from the courthouse. I figured I should take the chance to use a phone since you disabled my cell and won’t let me use it.”
“For your own safely,” he said.
“Yvonne told me that everything at Waffles is fine. They were already prepared for me to be gone for a couple of weeks on my honeymoon.”
“You were going to Baja to swim with dolphins.”
“Not my number one choice.” She felt herself begin to loosen up. When all was said and done, he was still Shane. Her best friend. “Neil said I’d love Baja. Ha! He probably wanted to push me off a cliff onto jagged rocks.”
“What did Yvonne have to say about the wedding?”
“A lot. After we took off, she drove across town and went to the chapel.”
She’d made it her business to be present, mostly because she took a perverse delight in seeing Neil brought down. If Angela had listened to her friend, she never would have agreed to Neil’s prop
osal.
“What happened?”
“Prentice stood at the front of the chapel and announced that the wedding was off. Yvonne said he made it sound like I’d had a nervous breakdown.”
“I’ll bet she set the record straight,” he said. “Yvonne isn’t exactly shy.”
“She marched down the aisle—which she said was decorated very nicely with daisy bouquets and ribbons. Then she told everybody to save their get-well cards because I was absolutely fine, and I had a very good reason to call off the wedding. Neil had deceived me.”
“Ouch,” Shane said. “When one party accuses the other of deception, most people assume infidelity was involved.”
“Oh, I’m sure that’s what they thought, especially those with dirty minds.”
And she had no desire to set the record straight. Explaining about Dr. Prentice and the DNA nightmare wasn’t something she was looking forward to. She continued, “Later, Yvonne made arrangements to have all the food that was already prepared and paid for at the reception dinner to be delivered to homeless shelters. I was glad to hear that.”
“What about the rest of it? Any regrets?”
“Only that I agreed to marry Neil in the first place.”
In that doomed relationship, she’d gotten it so wrong. Could she trust her judgment when it came to Shane? The last thing she wanted was to make another heart-wrenching mistake.
AFTER SHANE DROPPED HER and Benjy off at the cabin, Angela had time to think. When she needed to concentrate, she cooked. Using the meager supplies they’d purchased at the local market, she baked pies and cakes for the gang at the courthouse.
Benjy acted as sous-chef, washing veggies and helping her add ingredients. “A pinch of salt,” she said.
He poured a bit from the shaker into his little hand and held it up so she could see. “This much?”
“Perfect,” she said.
He threw the salt into the mixture with a flourish. Then he adjusted the brim of the cowboy hat that appeared to be a permanent fixture on his head. “I’m not big enough to ride on the horses by myself.”
“Not yet,” she agreed.