“Yes, but once again he wasn’t surprised or concerned. I guess Walker is fairly well-known in Boulder. The detective also said people usually murder for three reasons—for gain, revenge or fear of some kind of exposure. I…uh…I was thinking about what you’d said on the phone. You know—that if Kozinski feared being exposed, he’d have murdered me.”
“Likewise, you could have murdered him out of revenge for splitting the painting.”
Tess gave him a sharp look and saw his grin. “Very funny,” she drawled. She jiggled the car keys and looked at her watch. “It’s almost three and I still haven’t bought Molly a present or any of the supplies for the party.”
“I’ll help if you like. Follow me to my place and we’ll both go in the Bronco.” When she thanked him, he added, “There is a string or two attached to the offer.”
Tess narrowed her eyes. “Such as?”
“You have dinner with me after and maybe we can go back to my place for coffee.”
After a moment’s thought, she said, “Dinner sounds wonderful. Not sure about the coffee…just yet.”
His grin spread across his face. “Okay. Great. Let’s get rolling, then.”
“COFFEE?” the waitress asked.
Tess tried not to catch Alec’s eye as the young woman began to clear their dishes.
“Uh, Tess? Coffee?” he echoed.
She looked up and across the table and saw him wink. “No, thanks,” she said to the waitress, but as soon as she left, Tess added, “Not here, anyway.”
Alec’s grin broadened and he signaled for the bill. It was as if he couldn’t get out of the restaurant fast enough. But he obviously chose to play along with Tess, saying on their way out to the parking lot, “You have to come back to my place to pick up your car. Might as well pop up for—”
“Coffee.”
“Exactly.”
She kept him to his word, almost relishing his transparent efforts at actually brewing coffee neither really wanted. There was a moment when their hands touched briefly as they reached for the mugs he’d filled and Tess had felt a tingle from the brief contact. She sat across from him in the living room, not trusting herself to share the sofa, remembering all too well what had almost transpired last night.
“Want me to come out a bit early tomorrow, to help set up for the party?”
“If you like,” she said, her tone as casual as she could manage. “Nick’s offered to help so I think we can manage.”
A flicker of disappointment swept across his face. He blew on his hot drink, keeping his eyes fixed on Tess. “About last night—” he began.
Tess waved a hand. “It’s okay. I understand.”
“I don’t know if you do. Not even sure if I do, to be truthful.” He set the mug of coffee down and came over to her chair.
Tess looked nervously up at him. He took her mug from her and placed it on the coffee table. Then he clasped her hand and gently pulled her to her feet. His hands clutched her shoulders and she had no choice but to meet his gaze straight on.
“I want you to know how hard it was for me to stop.” His fingers tightened their hold of her. “When I’m with you, all I think about is touching you. Inhaling that perfume or soap or whatever it is. That intoxicating fragrance that’s as much a part of you as your silky skin and green eyes. I was aware of your amazing physical presence from the moment we first met but all that stuff about the kids and your coming here complicated things for a while. Since you’ve been in Boulder these last few days, I’ve seen a side of you I never knew existed.” He grinned. “I bet you never knew it did, either.”
Tess laughed, feeling the heat of a blush rise in her face.
“You’ve handled one obstacle after another and haven’t complained or cried for help.”
Tess kept quiet, but thought of her phone calls to Mavis.
“And now that I know you so much better—know what a magnificent person you are—I want this electricity between us to mean something more than just going to bed for a night. I want to know that there’ll be many more nights together. That we’ll really be a couple in every sense of the word. Do you understand now?”
She couldn’t speak for the lump in her throat. When he leaned down to kiss each eyelid, the tip of her nose and finally, her lips, Tess wrapped her arms around him. He held her close against him as if he were afraid to let go, his mouth tracing all the features of her face. Then he raised his head away from hers and hugged her close for a long moment, until Tess gently removed herself from his arms.
“I really should go,” she whispered, “before one of us persuades the other to forget all of our noble intentions.”
His laugh was deep and husky. “Yeah.” He dropped his arms, but held on to her hand. “Big day tomorrow.”
Tess caught her lower lip between her teeth. “For me, too,” she said. “The first birthday party I’ve ever thrown.”
His smile was tender. “But hopefully, not your last.”
She nodded. “Hopefully.” Then she left before she could change her mind about staying.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MOLLY CLUTCHED Squiggly with one hand as she waved goodbye to the last of five friends who had attended her birthday party.
“Can I show Squiggly my presents now?”
“Sure, sweetie. Go ahead.”
Molly hesitated and said, “That’s what my daddy used to call me.”
“Oh.” Tess closed the front door and looked down at Molly’s face, flushed from the party. “Do you mind if I call you that, too, sometimes?”
“Oh, no, I don’t mind. You’re my sister, so you can call me whatever you like.”
Tess watched her skip along the hall to her bedroom. My sister. What struck her was how easily the phrase had slipped out. Yet the word still sounded so foreign. Other people had sisters and brothers, but never Tess Wheaton.
She was thinking about that when she walked into the kitchen and found Alec cleaning up with Nick. Not only was she now a sister, but she’d also thrown her first birthday party. Both experiences were exhausting and exhilarating in their own way.
“I’ve poured you a glass of wine,” Alec said, pointing to the table. “Why don’t you put your feet up in the family room while we finish up here? I’m sure no one will want a big dinner after such a late lunch. And there’s a heck of a lot of leftover pizza.”
Tess eyed the pizza boxes on the counter and groaned. “Those little girls didn’t have the kind of appetites I thought they would.”
“No,” Alec agreed. “Though if you’d been hosting Nick’s baseball team, you’d have run out so…”
“I’ll get it right eventually,” she said. “And I’ll just sit here and watch you two work.” She sat down in one of the kitchen chairs and watched Nick put clean dishes away from the dishwasher. He had been wonderful with Molly’s friends and had voluntarily assumed the burden of entertaining them during lulls in the party. She had a feeling he’d done that before, and thought again how tragic it would have been for the two to be separated. Watching his thin, serious face as he went about his task, she was overwhelmed with an emotion she couldn’t at first identify. Not love maybe, but something very close.
The rush of affection moved her to an impulsive decision. “Nick,” she said. Both Nick and Alec turned her way, caught perhaps by the tone in her voice. “I was going to wait until I knew everything was arranged, but perhaps I should tell you and Molly now.”
Nick stiffened, his eyes instantly wary. But he didn’t say a word.
“I spoke to Mr. Walker the other day,” she began, noting Alec tense up at the name. “I told him that I wanted to apply to be your and Molly’s guardian.”
It took a moment for that to register and when it did, relief washed over Nick. He seemed to almost inflate. He gave a small shudder, his face crumpling with emotion, and flung his arms around Alec’s waist, burying his face in his chest.
Before Tess had time to feel sorry for herself at being left out, Nick wheeled
around and rushed to her side. His breathing was labored and he was on the verge of tears. He gave her an awkward hug. “Thank you so much, Tess,” he gasped. “You won’t regret it. I’ll always be good for you so you won’t be sorry. Can I tell Molly?”
Numbed by his response, she nodded. When he dashed from the room, Tess looked at Alec and said, “I thought he would be happy, but he seems almost upset.”
Alec came to her and held out a hand, pulling her up into his arms. “He is happy. And scared and overwrought. Every emotion he’s been feeling for the six weeks that his parents have been dead are rising to the surface. Don’t worry if he seems anxious to please you over the next few days. It’s a natural reaction. He’ll be worried that you’ll change your mind.”
Tess buried her face in the crook of Alec’s arm. “I won’t change my mind.”
Alec smoothed back her hair from her face, tilting her chin upward so her face could see his. “That’s very important, Tess. I can’t tell how happy I am that you made that decision, but please don’t even consider changing your mind now.”
That got to her. “How can you have so little faith in me? Especially after last night?”
Alec stopped her with a kiss. A long kiss that was interrupted by Molly’s screams from her room. “I didn’t mean that the way it came out,” he blurted. “Let me explain.”
She saw the urgency in his face and her annoyance vanished. Could she ever be angry with him again, she wondered? Especially after what he’d told her yesterday?
Molly snowballed into the room and flung her arms around Tess and Alec, oblivious to the fact that they were embracing. But Nick noticed, as soon as he followed Molly into the room. His eyes darted from Tess to Alec and back to Tess. The guarded look in his face came back. Tess had the distinct feeling that, although she’d made a significant gain with Nick, the battle wasn’t yet over.
Molly bounced around the kitchen, then ran off to tell Squiggly. Nick loitered in the doorway. Waiting, Tess wondered, to see if she and Alec would resume their kiss? Then Alec dropped his hands from her shoulders and said, “Guess I’d better go.” As he approached Nick, he gave him a light tap on his upper arm.
“So when are the play-offs?”
Tess looked from one to the other, puzzled.
“Didn’t Nick tell you his baseball team is in the finals for the Boulder County Cup?”
“No,” she murmured. It was clear that Nick had chosen to selectively exclude her from parts of his life and she wasn’t certain what that signified.
Alec didn’t give the matter serious weight. He said, “That’s Nick. He likes to keep things close to his chest, as the saying goes. Right, fella?”
Nick shrugged, his face impassive. But not his eyes, Tess noted. They were on full alert, boring in on her as if he were some sideshow psychic trying to read her mind.
A silence ripe with thought filled the room. Finally, Alec shifted farther into the doorway until Nick had to step aside. “So,” Alec asked, “when is the game?”
“Wednesday night,” he muttered.
“Time?”
“Six.”
“Okay. I’ll be there. How about you, Tess?”
Tess was still trying to sort out why Nick had never talked about his baseball games. “Uh, of course. If Nick wants me to come.”
Nick looked down at his feet and gave another shrug. “If you want,” was all he said before he shuffled out of the room.
Alec hesitated another minute and said, “Walk me to my car.”
The sun had already dropped behind the mountains and the air was heavy with the crisp dampness of dusk. As their feet crunched across the gravel drive, Tess was aware again how utterly quiet the countryside could be. They might very well be the only people left on earth.
At the driver side of the Bronco, Alec took her into his arms. He ducked his face into the hair at the back of her neck and she heard him inhale deeply.
“You smell so good,” he whispered. “Flowery and soapy and most of all, sexy.”
Tess felt the tiny hairs on her arms prickle. She moved closer into his embrace, so that her body fit perfectly into his. She tightened her grip around his back, pulling him closer. Then realized Molly or Nick might come outside.
“Alec! Not here.” She loosened her hold on him and drew back her head from the hollow of his neck and shoulder.
He closed his eyes for an instant, then let his hands fall to his side as he stepped back from her. He rubbed a hand over his face and Tess saw that he seemed to be struggling to compose himself.
“You’re right,” he said, huskily. “Time to face up to the fact that the weekend is over and tomorrow it’s back to business as usual.”
“Well, it doesn’t have to be all business all the time,” she murmured, wanting to hold on to some of the weekend magic.
He managed a faint smile. “You really didn’t know about the baseball?”
Tess wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the night’s chill. “No, he hasn’t said a word. He’s been late coming home a couple of times but always had some excuse. If he’d told me he had practices, I’d have driven him home. He just left me out of the whole equation.”
“Because he wasn’t sure how long you’d be in the picture. Know what I mean? What’s the point in having you cheer from the sidelines if he doesn’t even know if you’ll be around for all the games?” He paused, adding, “At least, I think that might have been his take on things.”
“But when I told him about the guardianship, he didn’t seem as excited as Molly.”
“You saw his immediate reaction. That was pretty emotional.”
“Yes, but when he came back with Molly he was so distant again.”
“That’s because he’d seen us in an intimate manner and now he’s wondering what we might have been doing all weekend.”
“Ohhh. You think so? Oh, God.”
Alec laughed. “What do you expect? He’s a teenager. He’s both fascinated and repelled by the fact of adults being intimate. Plus,” he hesitated, “he’s probably assessing the situation and trying to figure out what it all means. Especially for him and for Molly.”
Tess could relate to that. What did it all mean, anyway? She studied Alec’s face but read nothing in it. He was staring into the night, lost in thought himself. She waited for him to go on, to add something about what the weekend had meant for him personally. But he didn’t say a word.
She shivered. “It’s getting cold. I should go back in and help Molly get ready for bed. She’s pretty hyper tonight and I think it may take two or three stories before she calms down.”
She started to move away but he placed a hand on her forearm. “Thanks so much for doing this, Tess,” he said.
“Doing what?”
“Taking on the guardianship. It’s a big responsibility for you, but basically,” he paused a beat, “it’s a lifesaver for those kids.”
Tess frowned. Something in his words rang false. As if he thought she’d made the decision to please him. “I’m not doing it as a favor to them,” she said. “It’s because I…I’ve grown very fond of them over the past two weeks. When I started to think about leaving them here, I realized I simply couldn’t.”
“Look, I’m sorry that I implied you might change your mind—back inside. It’s just that I wasn’t sure if you were aware that having the kids wasn’t going to be simply about feeding and clothing them. You know Nick—he’s going to continue to be a challenge, even now after he knows he and Molly will be together. Other issues will crop up. He’s only thirteen and he lost his parents suddenly and tragically.” Alec paced as he talked, coming to a standstill at the front of the Bronco. “I know something about it—post-traumatic syndrome. That’s what made my life unravel when I came back from Kosovo.”
Tess looked at him, but his eyes were fixed on some distant point in the darkness. “Karen told you about my flying for NATO. I was just starting my career when the Gulf War started. I was young, brash and pumped up. Af
terward, my military career seemed too slow. I took some NATO missions for the experience and action.” He stopped talking for a long moment. When he continued, his voice was low and somber. “Kosovo was so very different. I mean, the cause felt right to me. But there were too many mistakes—too many civilian casualties. Not to mention the atrocities I saw on the ground. When my tour finished, I couldn’t psyche myself up for flying anymore. I just wanted to settle into my hometown and grow some roots. Have a family.” He paused again. “And to spend the rest of my life just hanging out with reasonably normal and sane people.”
After a long silence, Tess said, “You chose the right profession then. Because you’re wonderful at your job.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I think I’m pretty good at it, too. It’s not glamorous, but it’s damn rewarding most of the time.”
She wanted to fill the lull with movement—to reach out for him and touch him. But he stayed apart, keeping a distance between them that confused her. Instead, she babbled. “Hopefully the kids will adjust to me and to a new environment. Nick will find new friends in Chicago and maybe—”
“Chicago?”
“Yes. I’m sure Molly will adapt quicker but Nick—”
“You’re taking them back to Chicago? To live?”
The incredulity in his voice startled her. “I’ll have to. Everything I have is there. My condo. My job. Mavis.” She waited for him to say something. Then she added, “The kids can make a new life there but…but there’s nothing here for me.”
As soon as she uttered the words, she wanted to take them back. Their awful implication roared in the still night, like some monster let loose. Tess tried to put together the words to clarify what she’d really meant. But she also knew everything hinged on Alec. Was he going to give her a signal that there was something in Boulder for her after all?
He didn’t speak for a long time. “Nothing,” he repeated at last. He made the word sound almost obscene.
“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” she began.
But he was already on the move, wrenching the driver side door open. It slammed behind him and just before he turned over the engine, he stuck his head through the open window and said, “It’s probably a good thing you’ve discovered that now, Tess.”
The Second Family Page 23