Tangled Hearts

by Barbara McMahon

  She was having trouble thinking. Pressed up against him so intimately, she was having trouble even breathing, let alone coming up with the fortitude to push him away.

  His hand tilted her jaw, exposing her throat. With a soft groan, he lowered his mouth to that silky skin, kissing her, licking her, blowing gently on the damp skin. He was seducing her in her own classroom!

  Brianna shivered and shifted even closer, her free hand surrounding his waist, slipping beneath his sweater to press against his hot skin. Her breasts tingled with desire; heat pooled deep within her. Her legs remained wobbly, unable to support her weight.

  “Why didn’t you call me last night?” he asked.

  She blinked, tried to back away, but was caught fast by his arm.

  “I told you to call me if anything happened. How do you think I felt hearing from Don this morning that there’d been another break-in? And this one happened when you were there!”

  “There’s no need for you to get involved.”

  Disappointment raged through her. Had he only come because of last night’s attempted break-in, out of some overextended sense of duty?

  “Besides, there wasn’t anything you could have done that the policeman on duty last night didn’t do. I spent the rest of the night with the Bensons.”

  “I sure as hell could have done something. Exactly what I’m going to do now,” he said, releasing her and turning to the lecture desk. “This all your stuff?”

  The sudden change was unexpected. Brianna nodded.

  “Where do you want it?” He gathered up the stack of papers and folders.

  “In my office, but I can manage.”

  She reached for them, but he was already heading toward the back of the hall. Snagging his jacket en route, he waited for her by the door.

  “Jake, I can manage,” she repeated.

  “Sure, you’ve done a great job so far. Let’s go. We’ve got a long ride ahead of us.”

  “What are you talking about?” She almost had to skip to keep up with his longer stride. Throwing on her coat, she dodged a group of students and followed him from the lecture hall to her office.

  He dumped her papers on her desk and turned to take her arm. “Let’s go.”

  She dug in her heels and pulled Jake to a stop.

  “Wait a darn minute. Just what do you think you’re doing? And where do you think we’re going?”

  “I’m taking you out of Texarkana for a couple of days. It’s too dangerous for you to stay around while some crook keeps breaking into your house.”

  “I’m not going with you. I was going to stay with Sandy for a couple of days—”

  “Yeah, Don told me he had you arrange to stay somewhere else. Call and cancel.”

  “I haven’t arranged it yet, but I—”

  “Good, then there’s no problem. Need anything from here?”

  “Hold it! I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  Her mind boggled at the notion. Spend several days alone with Jake, no one else around? No matter how much the idea appealed, it would be emotional suicide. Yet a tiny portion of her couldn’t resist just hearing what he had to say. Nothing more.

  “Where?” she asked.

  That slow, seductive smile he gave so sparingly tilted the corners of his lips. Her heart caught fire. She’d walk through fire for those smiles.

  “I have a place up in the Winding Stairs Mountains a couple of hours from here. We’ll stay the weekend there. That’ll give Don and his men a chance to follow up on some leads and stake out your house without your being around.”

  “What leads?”

  “We caught a break. You have a new mama in your complex. She’d just put baby to sleep when she heard the breaking glass. She looked out the window and caught a glimpse of the intruder. She was even able to give us a partial description of his car. We’ll get him, Brie. We just need time.”

  “Then I’ll be fine at home.”

  “Until then, you’re coming with me.”

  He tugged gently and she went with him. Her thoughts churning, Brianna tried to decide the best course of action. The prudent course of action, not what her heart clamored for.

  “We can’t leave for the weekend. It’s only Thursday,” she protested, trying frantically to come up with convincing reasons his plan would never work. She had to be calm and rational about it all and come up with a sound reason to stay as far from him as possible.

  “That was your last class, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes. What about your work?”

  “I’m taking a few days’ vacation. I haven’t had one in years so they owe me.”

  She was intrigued. “Why not?”

  “Why not what?” He glanced down at her as they reached his car. “Will your car be all right here over the weekend?”

  She looked around. “If I were leaving it here for the weekend, it would be, but—”

  “Get into the car.” He hustled her into his four-wheel-drive Jeep, leaned so close she thought he was going to kiss her again.

  “I’m not sure this is such a good idea,” she whispered.

  “I’ll keep you safe,” he promised.

  “Will you?”

  He hadn’t before. She’d been so hurt. And he didn’t even have a clue. It was probably a good thing he didn’t know how he affected her. Could she stand to have her heart broken a second time?

  Forty-five minutes later, they were heading toward Oklahoma. Two suitcases in the back seat contained their clothes. Brianna had her briefcase containing two journals she wanted to read, but Jake had refused to let her take any other work.

  They were well beyond the city limits before Brianna allowed the enormity of the situation to hit her fully. She was going away for the weekend with the man she loved.

  Yet from his point of view, he was merely protecting her from an unknown intruder. When the man was caught, Jake would say goodbye and she’d once again be on her own.

  Until then—she had three days at least, maybe more. She could store up a lifetime of memories in three days. She'd have to. It was unlikely an opportunity like this would come again.

  Smiling suddenly, she knew she could have resisted. She had other options. Jase would come stay with her. Josh would have had her at the ranch. It wasn’t that long a drive into Texarkana from the ranch that she couldn’t have done it every day for a while. Or she could have stayed with Sandy.

  The real reason she agreed to Jake’s demands to go with him was that she wanted to. It was that simple.

  This time she knew there was no future for them. She was no longer the starry-eyed woman who had believed in happy endings. She wouldn’t be caught unaware as she had been two years ago when he stopped calling. Now she knew she’d have to save up memories and be prepared to say goodbye when they returned.

  Chapter Four

  The sparkling snow reflected the sun's rays until Brianna wondered how Jake could see to drive. She donned dark glasses and looked out the side window. The fields along the road were pristine and empty beneath their snowy covering. In the distance, she saw a small herd of cattle, but they had not trampled the snow near the road. For a moment, she was transported back to her childhood. She and her brothers had loved the snow, made snow angels, built forts, had rousing snowball fights. As the youngest, she'd rarely won the snowball fights, but she never stopped trying.

  She tried to remember the last snowball fight. It had to be just before her parents had been killed. It seemed as if Jase had changed overnight after that.

  Of course, he would have had to. He'd been responsible for her and Josh.

  Funny, she’d never thought about it much before. How hard that must have been for him. He’d only been a kid himself.

  “Worried about something?” Jake asked with a quick glance in her direction.

  She turned, jolted back to the present. “No, just remembering when I was a kid and the fun my brothers and I had in the snow. Doesn’t seeing all this make you want to get out and play?”
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  He shrugged. “I like some things in the snow. Skiing, snowmobiling. What do you mean by play?”

  “Play in the snow itself. I loved making snow angels when I was little. My mom would come out and judge whose were the best. I always won.” Brianna smiled in reminiscence. “Maybe because it was the only thing I could win. My brothers never gave an inch. And since they're both older, I didn’t have a chance.”

  “They watch out for you,” he said neutrally.

  “Well, Jase sure did. He worked hard to keep me and Josh with him after my folks died. But Josh, too, started bossing me around after Mom and Dad were gone. Guess they took their responsibilities very seriously.”

  “Jase is your older brother, right?”

  “Yes. He was just a kid himself when Mom and Dad died. The judge waited until he was eighteen and then granted him custody of us until we came of age. But Josh was bossier.”

  Jake darted her a quick glance and remained silent. He said nothing. He knew how bossy her brother was, and how strongly Josh felt about protecting his sister.

  Jake almost gave in to the temptation to tell her, as well, but the urge passed. It was old news. And Josh hadn’t said anything untrue. Jake wasn’t the man for Brianna. Josh had made that clear, but it would not have influenced Jake a bit if he hadn’t agreed with the man. He had known Brianna had a crush on him. He had relished feeling special to such a warm and loving woman. But his way of life wasn’t suitable for such a gentle woman, nor his background. She deserved much more. And Josh had known it.

  “…sisters?” she said.

  “What?” He’d missed the first part of her question while brooding on what had happened two years ago.

  “I asked if you had any brothers or sisters? You never mentioned any when…before. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have any.”

  “I don’t.” His reply was clipped. He didn’t want to talk about families.

  Brianna studied Jake as he drove. He seemed lost in thought. When they’d been dating, he had sometimes been preoccupied, usually with a case he was working on. At that time, she'd felt comfortable enough to ask what he was thinking.

  Not now. She longed to know what he’d been doing the past two years. She wondered about the crimes he’d investigated. Wondered when he became a detective. She didn't even know what division he worked in, though she suspected burglary since he seemed to know all about her case.

  More than anything, she wondered what he thought they'd accomplish by leaving Texarkana for a long weekend. Was it merely to keep her safe while the rest of the force searched for the burglar? Or was there more to it?

  “I missed you these past years,” she said bravely. “Did you miss me?”

  He nodded once, briefly.

  Her throat ached as she held back the words demanding to know why he’d stopped calling, why he hadn’t responded to her calls.

  “Where exactly are we going?” she asked instead.

  “My place.”

  “I didn’t know you had a place in the mountains. Where?”

  “Not too far from the state park. I’ve had the land for a long time. A couple of summers ago, I built a small cabin. Some of the guys from work helped. Now I let them use it when I’m not coming up.”

  “I can’t wait to see it.”

  “It’s not much, just a couple of rooms. But the view's nice.”

  He was proud of the cabin. It wasn't much, but it was all his. He'd designed it, built it with help, and furnished it. He'd spent a couple of weeks right after it was built just sitting on the porch and staring at the view. Building it helped him forget about Brianna.

  Sitting on the porch gave him unlimited time to remember her.

  It was growing dark when he turned onto the narrow road leading to his place. Five minutes later, he pulled to a halt before a small log cabin. The wide front porch was well sheltered from the snow, which drifted considerably deeper in the yard than it had back in Texarkana.

  At least it wasn't too deep he couldn't pull into the small drive.

  Brianna’s eyes darted everywhere as she took in the building, then the fantastic view.

  “Jake, this is beautiful.” Her voice was hushed as she gazed in delight at the scene. “You must come up here every chance you get.”

  “I don’t get up that much.” Building it had been a way to keep the memories at bay. But once he had completed the work, staying at the cabin proved lonely. It reminded him too much of things that he couldn’t have.

  Brianna hopped out of the car, glad she’d worn warm boots when she sank to her knees in the snow. Reaching for her briefcase, she turned and trudged to the porch. Jake followed, carrying both their bags.

  Nestled in the lee of the mountains to the west, the cabin was already in shadow. Dusk would follow shortly. Opening the door, Jake stood aside as Brianna stepped inside. She looked everywhere, curious to see how he’d decorated it. It was Spartan, the furniture sturdy and practical and looked imminently comfortable. To the left of the doorway, she saw a long sofa placed in front of a stone fireplace with a couple of easy chairs flanking it. To the right, a large, scarred pine dining table sat surrounded by wooden chairs. Beyond was the open kitchen. A closed door split the back wall.

  There were no curtains, no rugs, nothing to soften the stark lines. And nothing on the windows to interfere with the spectacular view.

  Brianna itched to bring a little color to the room, to warm it up with curtains flanking the windows, comfortable pillows piled on the sofa, and a thick rug on the floor.

  But it wasn’t her place to do so.

  Neither, apparently, was it any other woman’s place. For that she was grateful.

  “It’s wonderful,” she said, smiling at him.

  He looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time and shook his head. In comparison to the warmth and color of her place, it was barren, almost bleak.

  “Still not finished. But I’m not much on curtains and such. Maybe you have some suggestions.” He closed the door and deposited their cases beside it. “I’ll get a fire going. That’s the primary method of heat. Don’t take off your jacket just yet.”

  As Jake moved to the fireplace, Brianna dropped her briefcase on the sofa and went to gaze at the view through the front window. The cabin sat on the slope of a hill, with a small valley beneath it. The sunlight still shone on the opposite hill, the snow reflecting the late-afternoon colors of gold and pink. The worries about the break-ins seemed surreal in such a serene setting.

  Brianna sighed with pleasure and turned to watch Jake build their fire.

  “You could almost commute from here,” she observed, perching on the arm of the sofa. The trip had taken only a couple of hours.

  “No, I need to live in town. If I’m needed, I want to be right there. This is fine for weekends and vacations.”

  “Yet you said you don’t come very often. Why not? I’d think you would come up all the time and bring loads of friends with you.”

  “It’s not big enough for load of friends.”

  “Then a special friend,” she said as if probing a sore tooth.

  He looked up and met her gaze. Slowly he stood, his eyes never leaving hers.

  “I’ve never brought another woman, if that is what you’re hinting at,” he said pointedly.

  Pink washed up through her cheeks as he answered her not-so-subtle question. She should have been embarrassed, but her relief that he did not habitually bring up other women was too strong. She was the first!

  She wished she had had a hand in building it. Dare she take him up on his request to help decorate it?

  She cleared her throat. “Why not?” she whispered.

  He smiled and stepped closer. “There is only one bedroom.” Reaching out his hand, he rubbed the back of his fingers over a heated cheek.

  Her eyes widened at that. Did that mean…?

  “Fortunately, the sofa opens out to a bed.” Teasing lights danced in his eyes as he studied the myriad expressi
ons dancing across her face.

  She wished she were as brazen as she sometimes was in her dreams. She'd love to be bold enough to step into his arms and say not to bother with the sofa bed, there'd be plenty of room in his bed for both of them.

  But while wanton fantasies were fine for dream time, they didn't have a place in real life.

  He dropped his hand and shrugged out of his jacket.

  The fire had started, and already Brianna could feel some of its warmth.

  “There are things in the freezer and cupboards. Let’s see if we can find enough for dinner or if I have to go back out for some food.”

  Brianna trailed after Jake, shivering a little in the cold cabin, the temperature almost matching that of outside. How long before it warmed up enough to be comfortable? With the fire, the stove and the oven, it should be toasty warm quickly.

  She knew a shortcut. If he’d just kiss her once…

  Even thinking about a kiss warmed her ten degrees. She unbuttoned her jacket and let it hang open.

  Her eyes tracked Jake as he rummaged around in the cupboards and pulled out some cans and boxes. Then he moved to the freezer and searched through the frozen packages. Curling her fingers, she shoved her hands into her pockets to keep from acting on the urge to thread her fingers through his thick, dark hair. She spun around and gazed out the window over the sink, lest every private longing be revealed when he looked at her.

  “That’s it. Frozen steaks, boxed potatoes, canned corn.” He looked up, a trace of uncertainty in his eyes.

  Brianna met his gaze, touched. Was he worried about what she thought about dinner? She smiled.

  “I can pan fry the steaks, make gravy and biscuits to go with it,” she offered, turning to take off her jacket.

  He was right there, easing the thick coat from her shoulders, tossing it across a chair, raising her chin with the edge of his hand.

  “I remember your gravy and biscuits. They were always great.”

  “I’m glad you liked them. Men are so easy to please. Cook them a hearty meal, plenty of everything, and presto, instant satisfaction.” She smiled saucily up at him. Feeling alive for the first time in two years, it was glorious.