Tangled Hearts

by Barbara McMahon

  She swallowed hard again, her eyes tracing over every mouth-watering inch, her fingertips tingling, heat rising.

  “Aren’t you cold?” she asked abruptly.

  He needed to put on a shirt before she lost what tenuous control she held. When he turned, she knew she was done for.

  He was gorgeous in the only way a perfect man can be. His hair was tousled, sexy as could be. His cheeks and chin bristled with day-old beard.

  When had she developed this longing to rub against that stubborn jaw, to feel the scratchiness that covered the hard cheekbones? Such a compelling urge proved almost impossible to resist. She actually took a step closer before she caught herself.

  “I’m not cold. I thought the fire had warmed the place up,” he returned. “Are you cold?”

  She was hotter than billy blue blazes, but it had nothing to do with the fire in the fireplace. The blame could be squarely laid at his feet. She glanced down. Even his feet were bare.

  Closing her eyes, Brianna took a deep breath. Opening them again, she forced her gaze to meet his. Ignoring the tempting expanse of male flesh only a few feet away was nothing short of miraculous. She was proud of herself.

  “I’m not hot, but I am wearing more clothes than you.” Blast! She had not meant for her voice to crack.

  He looked at her oddly. “I was waiting my turn in the bathroom. I’ll take a quick shower. There’s not much for breakfast. Oatmeal, maybe?”

  “That’s fine.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, why?” She couldn’t breathe. How long could a person live without breathing?

  “You look as if you’re in a trance or something.”

  “I’m just looking you in the eye.”

  He frowned.

  Sighing in defeat, Brianna let her gaze roam over the decidedly masculine body that stood before her. Slowly she licked her lips and stepped closer.

  “You know, Jake, you probably should go get that shower now,” she said, reaching out to touch his biceps. His skin was warm and taut. Lightly she skimmed her fingertip down his arm, feeling its silky texture change to the light roughness where darker hair covered his forearm.

  “Yeah.” But he didn’t move. Then he did. Only to step closer, draw her up against that wide, enticing chest and lower his mouth to hers.

  His scratchy beard abraded her softer cheeks, but she didn’t care. She welcomed him, reaching for him. Her heart rate increased a hundredfold.

  Brianna encircled his shoulders, her fingers, palms, arms, rubbing against the bare flesh that tantalized her so. Relishing in the sensations, she wanted the embrace to never end.

  His mouth made love to hers as never before. He demanded and offered, took and returned. His hands cupped her head, holding her where he wanted her as he sipped from her lips, plunged again and again into the sweetness that waited for him.

  When he lifted his head, Brianna wanted to rush outside and plunge into the nearest snow bank to cool the blazing heat that threatened to consume her. Her lips were warm—the air cooled them. Her body was hot—nothing cooled it. Locking her gaze with his, she refused to release him. Her arms had a mind of their own.

  “I’ve got to take a shower,” he said, his hands brushing through her soft hair. His eyes were distracted as he watched the silken locks drift over and over between his fingers as he continued to comb through.

  “I’ll make breakfast.”

  He smiled down at her, his eyes dark and shadowy. Nodding slowly, he lowered his head again. This time the kisses were feathery light. Just a touch of his lips against hers. Not nearly enough to assuage the burning need that threatened to overwhelm her.

  Brianna stood on tiptoes to increase contact. He smiled against her, his lips moving over hers, yet denying her the full satisfaction she sought.

  Remembering too late her own admonitions of only a few minutes ago, she pulled away. Clearing her throat, she tried for a reasonable tone. Shimmering waves of excitement tingled through her. Reasonable was not at all how she felt.

  “Go.” She stepped around him and stared at the coffee, trying to drag her raging emotions under some semblance of control. She'd never make it through the weekend if she didn’t maintain some decorum.

  Though who wanted decorum when they could have Jake served up practically naked first thing in the morning?

  It was like playing house, she decided a little later as the sound of the shower ended.

  They had never even spent the night together before this weekend. Now they were living together. Not in the full sense of the word, but close enough to know how it would be.

  And as far as she was concerned, it would be great. They got along. They had some interests in common, and some different. But in the past, and during the last two days, they'd spent endless hours together without any cross words. And she had never been bored around him.

  Could he say the same?

  A thought struck her. Did she bore him? That could explain—

  “Is this a new thing with you, going off into a trance?” Jake asked, walking into the room.

  She spun around. He’d dressed. He wore faded jeans and another dark sweater. He had on black socks, no shoes yet.

  “I was just thinking. Do I bore you?”

  “What?” He looked startled. Shaking his head, he chuckled. “Honey, the last thing you could ever do is bore me. I can’t keep up with you. Where did that notion come from?”

  “I was thinking that you don’t bore me and I wondered if I bored you. Do you like brown sugar on your oatmeal or cinnamon?”

  “Sugar, of course. You've never come close to boring me, Brie.”

  She dished up breakfast and watched him from beneath veiled lashes as he ate. She liked playing house.

  “I thought we could take out the snowmobiles after we ate,” Jake said as he poured himself a mug of coffee.

  “That would be fun.”

  “You’ve ridden snowmobiles before?”

  “Sure. We have several at the ranch. Sometimes Josh and Jase use them instead of horses to reach some of the outlying ranges to check cattle if there's snow on the ground. I’ve ridden them many times when I went along to help.”

  “Good. We'll ride when we finish eating. We can go down to the convenience shop and get some food for the rest of the weekend.”

  “Okay.”

  Spending the morning in the cold air and snow would be the best thing for her. Get her mind off Jake.

  Then when they got back, she would read her journals, maybe make soup or something time-consuming for dinner.

  She had three days to get through before they’d head for home. She had to find things to keep her busy or go crazy.

  Snowmobiling provided a perfect solution. Cold and windy, the crisp morning proved a total antidote to the heat that had suffused her. Glad for the change from the cabin, she snuggled down in her parka, knowing she’d warm up as they traveled.

  Following Jake, Brianna was able to keep up with no trouble. And she got to watch him to her heart’s content. As he led the way, it took only a couple of minutes before she knew she was in the presence of an expert. On her mettle to prove her own ability, she followed right behind him. If he could do it, so could she.

  It was exhilarating! The swirl of snow that shot from beneath the traces spun like sugar in the bright sun. Rainbows and dazzling sparklers reflected back the variety of crystalline snowflakes. The sky was so blue it almost hurt. The air was so clean and clear it seemed almost as if she were breathing pure oxygen. She laughed aloud in sheer happiness.

  They reached the convenience store only a few miles down the road and left the snowmobiles neatly parked beside the larger cars. She giggled at the picture their two vehicles made.

  Jake snatched off her cap and watched as she shook her head free in the frosty air. “Your hair is just as blond in winter as in summer,” he said, handing her the cap.

  “That’s because it’s still sun-bleached. I don’t wear a hat when I ski s
o the sun can still get to it.”

  Pleased he commented on it, she wanted him to notice every single thing about her. Something would click. She couldn’t be the only one to feel so strongly in this relationship.

  When Jake scanned the area before heading for the store, Brianna shivered. Instantly she was reminded why they were there. He looked like a cop now. All business. He had her with him to guard her, to make sure she remained unharmed. It was easier to forget when it was just the two of them, but being in a public place brought it all up again.

  “Jake, I’m not being stalked. Someone broke into my house and office,” she said, stepping closer. No matter what, she felt safer near him.

  “Old habits die hard. Come on, what do you want for dinner tonight?”

  He took a different route back to the cabin, passing a couple of places that afforded a magnificent view of the snow-covered hills and valleys. One spot offered a spectacular panorama of the Winding Stairs summit in all its winter beauty.

  The groceries had not yet been put away when Jake's cell rang. Jake answered. He glanced at Brianna, turned slightly and kept his comments brief. Brianna continued storing the food they’d just bought, shifting the supplies around in the cupboards. She listened with half an ear, but was unable to make heads or tails of the conversation from his cryptic comments.

  Did it concern her? Had they found the person who had broken into her home?

  When he put his phone back in his pocket, his face was grim.

  The call reminded him why Brianna was there. It wasn’t a romantic weekend getaway. He was keeping her safe from danger. And he'd better remember that.

  “What now?” she asked.

  “Someone broke into your car. The campus police called it in this morning. Don's keeping me informed.”

  “I shouldn’t have left it at the college.” Her legs felt shaky. Weakly she drew out a dining room chair and plopped down on the hard seat. “Is it a total mess like everything else?”

  “The passenger window's broken. Nothing taken that they could tell.”

  Jake whipped out the chair next to hers, turned it around and straddled it, stacking his hands on the high back. He rested his chin on them and studied her.

  “Maybe we’ve been going at this wrong, Brie. We need to find out who is doing this and why. I thought you must have something someone wants. But what would you have in your car? Now I wonder if it’s just someone targeting you for some reason. Have you made anyone angry recently?”

  She shook her head.

  “How about not so recently, like a year or two ago, but for some reason they're only getting back at you now?”

  Was it possible she had ended that other relationship? Was that the reason for the break-ins—retaliation by a rejected lover?

  She shook her head.

  “There has to be something!”

  “Well, I don’t know what it is! I’m not working on a project for the Air Force right now. I don’t leave anything at home or at my office about that work ever. The new semester has just started, so I don’t have any tests or exams around that a student might be trying to see.”

  “The fall semester ended when?”

  “We had finals right before Christmas.”

  “Could it be a student looking for grades?”

  She shrugged. “At this point I don’t know who it could be. But I turned in my grades before I left for Jase and Shannon’s place at Christmas.”

  “Would students know that? Could it be that simple?”

  “Simple or not, I want it stopped. Why would they look in my car? I certainly wouldn't keep anything important in my car.”

  “Whoever it is, he took care to sweep away all the glass. If someone hadn’t walked right by it and noticed the window was open, it might not have been discovered until you returned. No one leaves their windows open in this kind of weather.”

  “So he’s been to my house twice, my office once and now my car. Should I leave a sign around that I don’t have whatever it is he’s looking for?”

  “Tell me about the men in your life.” He didn’t want to hear what she had to say, but if it provided a clue, he needed to know.

  The change was abrupt. She stared at Jake. Gone was the laughing rider on the snowmobile. Instead, she viewed a hard-eyed cop, intent on discovering any and all facts he could to solve a crime.

  She wondered if she were still a person to him or had she become just another case?

  “There are no men in my life,” she said evenly.

  “Come on, Brie, not so. You’re too pretty to be alone. Who have you been dating recently? Who do you go out with for coffee after work? What student has a crush on you?”

  The last thing she planned to do was let this man know how his leaving had impacted her life. She simply would not open herself up to that. Tilting her chin, she glared at him.

  “First, I don’t have any students who have crushes on me. Not that I know about. Wouldn’t I be able to tell?”

  He shook his head slowly. “I don’t know. They might love you from afar.”

  “Right. Next, I have a friendly relationship with others in the mathematics department. But no one there is pining away over me. It may have escaped your attention, but I am no femme fatale.”

  “Honey, you're as pretty as the sunrise, as I’m sure you’ve been told many times. What you might view as only friendship, another might wish to change.”

  As she had with Jake. He'd considered them friends when she had wanted so much more.

  “Give me something! I’m trying to help you here and you’re as closed mouthed as a clam. Tell me what I need to know!”

  She stood up and put her fists on her hips.

  “I’ve told you everything I know. No one has a crush on me. I have no secrets at home. There is no man out there wreaking havoc in my life to get back at me for some imagined wrong. How many ways do I have to tell you that? I think it must be some deranged maniac targeting me for who-knows-what reason. But I don’t know what it is, so stop asking me!”

  She turned and stomped into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. Her emotions were raw. She was a quivering mass of contradictions. She had begun to patch together her life after Jake had walked away so abruptly. Being around him now was no picnic.

  She wanted him as much as she had before, if not more. And the vibes she got from him were so confusing. One minute she began to think he cared. Kisses were magical. The next she thought she represented nothing more to him than a challenging case for the great police detective to crack.

  Flinging herself down on the bed, she frowned at the ceiling. Not six hours ago, she’d told herself she'd keep her distance from him. She refused to fall into the trap of believing there could be anything between them. She needed to remember Jake had made his feelings in the matter perfectly clear. Why then did she have such a hard time accepting them?

  The bedroom door swung open. Brianna glanced over to the doorway. Jake leaned against the jamb, his arms crossed over his chest.

  “Don’t sulk, Brie. It’s unbecoming in a college professor.”

  “Go away. I’m not sulking.” She rolled over and looked out of the window. Just beyond the edge of the mountain, she could see the first traces of clouds. Was the weather changing?

  “Give me some slack here, Brie. I’m not the bad guy.”

  She rolled back and sat up at that. “Neither am I, Jake, yet you hammer on me as if I were. I don’t have the slightest idea who is doing this. Don’t you think I’ve thought about it until I’m numb? If I had any suggestions, I’d tell you. I want it to stop. Nothing like this has happened to me before and I don’t like it.”

  “I don’t like it, either, and I’m only trying to figure out who’s doing it.”

  “It’s not my fault.”

  “I know that.”

  “You don’t act like it sometimes,” she muttered.

  “Just put it down to my being a sore loser, okay? I’ll try to modify my tactics.”
/>   “Take your interrogation tactics elsewhere. I’m not the suspect.”

  She frowned. What did he mean by sore loser? Just because he hadn’t found the burglar yet didn’t mean he'd lost.

  He nodded, his eyes narrowed. “Yes, ma’am. Come on, we're going back to check out your car, then take it in for repair. It’s supposed to rain and snow again, so you don't want it open to the elements.”

  “My insurance's going to go through the roof,” she complained as they climbed into the jeep and began their journey back to Texarkana. “If they don’t cancel me altogether.”

  “When we catch the guy, you can sue him to reimburse the insurance company. Relax, this kind of things happens and insurance companies know it.”

  “It doesn’t happen to me. I’ve thought and thought until I’m blue in the face and can’t imagine who would keep doing it or why.”

  Jake reached over and caught her eye. “We’ll find him and stop him. Count on it!”

  Mildly comforted, she settled back for the ride. It did no good to worry. She had faith in the legal system. Once they found the man, the break-ins would cease.

  And so would her reason to be with Jake. So it didn't exactly make the future a win-win in her book.

  Their time together would be so fleeting. She almost wished they'd never find the man, that he'd break in with great regularity, just so she could stay with Jake for protection.

  It was late by the time they'd seen to Brianna’s car. The clouds that had been peeping over the mountains obliterated the sun. The wind blew hard from the west, stirring up the snow, chilling the air. Brianna shivered as she climbed back into Jake’s car.

  “Want to eat here in town before we head back?” Jake asked when he joined her.

  “Sure. Or we can go back to my place and fix spaghetti or something.”

  He hesitated. “We’re having your house watched. I’d just as soon you not show up this weekend. If the offer is just as good at my apartment, we could eat there.”

  “Do you have more food at your apartment than you did at the cabin?” she asked suspiciously.

  “No. But we’re only a couple of minutes from the grocery store. We’ll stop there first.”