“Oh, my,” she whispered against his throat. “I don’t think I can stand up.”
“Then don’t. Stay here. I’d offer to carry you, but I’m not sure I have the strength. I’d drop you.”
“I’m not exactly a virgin. I thought I knew about sex,” Emma said, “But what we just did is a whole other thing entirely—at least for me.” She rose up on one elbow. “I want to do it again soon.”
“Not without a couple of rare sirloins first,” he said. “And maybe a couple fingers of Scotch.”
“I hope you brought the steaks, because no way am I getting out of this bed to go to the grocery.”
He curled a strand of her still-damp hair around his finger. “You’re in luck. I brought a cooler in the back of the SUV with steaks and fixins, and Mom stocks a full bar for her bridge club.” He reached down to the foot of the bed and pulled a thick down comforter over them.
“Ooh, lovely,” said Emma. She cuddled against his side with her arm across his chest.
He felt rather than heard her laugh, and propped himself up on one elbow so he could look down at her. “What’s funny?”
“I can’t believe you actually kidnapped me,” Emma said.
“Let’s say I invited you.”
“Forcefully, without telling me where we were going.”
“If you’d hesitated, I’d have taken you home. I figured I could talk you out of having me arrested if everything worked out.”
“And if I’d said no?”
“Then, like I said, I would’ve taken you home. I thought this was what we both wanted, but every time we got close, either someone would show up at your front door or the skunks would need you or I’d get called out to arrest somebody.”
“Or I’d wind up in the azaleas.”
“That, too. When that Nathan guy showed up at lunch with you at the café, it was all I could do to be civil to him.”
“He’s a nice man.”
“He’s a part of your life I can’t share.”
“Not can’t. Don’t. Just as I don’t share how you chase poachers. Most people share only bits and pieces of their lives with each other. My stepmother and father are close, but there’s plenty she doesn’t know about his legal cases, and plenty he doesn’t know about her volunteer work at the children’s hospital. They love each other dearly, but they’re very different.” She paused. “I don’t want anyone to try to absorb me, either.”
He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “Good luck to anyone who tries. One thing you learn working with wild animals—a fox may seem tame, but he’s still a fox, just as your skunks are still skunks. Push their buttons hard enough, and they’ll skunk you.”
“Now I’m a skunk?”
“Parts of you are pure skunk, lady.”
She slipped out of his arms, piled up the pillows that had landed on the floor behind her and leaned against them. “I never thought of it that way, but that’s what Trip tried to do—make me into what he wanted, never mind what I wanted.”
“You should’ve skunked him.”
“Not a bad idea. You know,” she said, “you and I had Sunday evening alone after we found Bobby Joe. Nobody interrupted us then. I still ended up going to bed alone.”
“I would gladly have made love to you while we were both covered in chigger bites and anti-itch lotion—well, maybe not gladly—but somehow the romance was missing.”
She hit him with a pillow. A moment later they were rolling around on the bed laughing. Until the laughter stopped. “Kiss me,” Emma whispered.
He smiled down at her. “The heck with the steaks.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
BY MIDNIGHT THE storm had blown itself out, but left a chill in the air more like early April than mid-May. Seth lit the fire. He kept several changes of clothes in the loft, so he didn’t have to wear his damp ones. Emma borrowed one of his sweatshirts that hung to her knees. She laid their damp clothes over a couple of rocking chairs in front of the fire. They’d be dry by morning.
They microwaved a couple of potatoes while Seth pan-broiled the two steaks. Emma set up a picnic in front of the fire.
“You do know this was a crazy thing to do,” Emma said. “Whatever possessed you?”
“You possessed me,” he said and slid his fingers down her back. “You ought to realize by now that I don’t handle frustration well. But you’d just walked out of another relationship, and I didn’t want to take advantage while you were vulnerable.”
“Shoot, getting fired was worse than discovering Trip’s infidelity. I’m usually smarter than that.” She took their empty plates to the sink, rinsed them and stacked them in the dishwasher. She walked over to the window wall. “Look, Seth. After all that rain and wind, the clouds are gone. We’ve got most of a moon.”
He joined her, wrapped his arms around her. She leaned back against him with her hands clasped across his arms to hold him close. “You can kidnap me anytime,” she whispered.
* * *
IN THE MORNING, he dropped her at the clinic to pick up her car, then followed her home. The babies were snuggled together in a corner of the playpen, but tried to climb out when they saw Emma and Seth. Emma filled their food and water dishes in the kennel and Seth helped her return everyone there. The ground was wet, but their elevated nest box was almost dry. The minute they were set back inside, they began patrolling to see if anything had changed.
“I have to dress and get back to the clinic,” Emma said.
“I’m going to be late for work if I don’t do the same.” He took her in his arms and kissed her—the mind-blowing variety. “If I take you into town for dinner, can we have a sleepover at your house tonight?”
“Don’t bother to bring your jammies,” she said, and sent him off.
Barbara was the soul of discretion. She didn’t ask for an explanation of Emma’s sudden disappearance. Emma didn’t give her one. She did, however, find herself singing a love song to a bloodhound that came in for his rabies shot. Until the bloodhound decided to join her in song. The whole waiting room broke into laughter, then applause. Emma blushed to the roots of her hair.
It was her day to bring lunch. In Barbara’s office she laid out bowls of gazpacho, which didn’t have to be heated, added ham-and-cheese baguettes. As they sat down, Barbara said, “Pleasant evening?”
“Very, thank you.” She glanced out Barbara’s window. “Look!” In the wading pool in the backyard Mabel paddled proudly ahead of six fat goslings.
“I always said Mabel had the morals of a goose,” Barbara said. “Come on.” They pulled on their Wellington boots and slipped out the back door.
Mabel squawked, hopped out of the pool and led the goslings back to her nest box, where they burrowed under her.
“Oh, shoot, we’ll have to lock them up at night,” Barbara said. “Or the coyotes will get them sure as this world. She can’t protect them all. All right, old lady, we’ll look after your babies.” She tossed a handful of corn into the feeder. Mabel attempted to keep her goslings under control while she scarfed up the food. “I wonder who the daddy is,” Barbara said. “Got to watch out for those traveling men. Get you in trouble every time.”
“I thought geese mated for life,” Emma said.
“He may come back. Or he may be in somebody’s freezer.”
“Barbara! Bite your tongue.”
“That’s why we do what we do to protect the little ones. When are you planning to release yours?”
“Seth says in a couple of days. I’m going to worry myself to death.”
“They can protect themselves better than most.”
“I wish I knew what I was doing,” Emma said. “I want to learn. You don’t have time to teach, and I don’t know any of the other rehabilitators.”
“Take the classes.”
“What if I go back home befor
e I’m finished?”
“Then finish at home. There are classes at the zoo among other places. Plenty of things you can do. Even specialized things like working with raptors—although that’s a whole other licensing process.”
“Where do I find classes locally?”
“The fish and game people run classes at Saint Andrews Church parish hall in Williamston. Go to an orientation. See if you like it. While you’re working here and deciding what you want to do, I think you’ll find it interesting. Somewhere on my desk I have a schedule of classes. Seth and Earl often teach at least the first couple of nights, although I don’t think it’s fair for you to seduce the instructor to improve your grade.”
“I would never seduce Earl.”
“Janeen will be thrilled to hear that. But there’s another instructor.”
“He’s fair game.”
That evening Emma took a chair out to the yard to sit beside the skunks. She had so few moments left with them. They already paid very little attention to her, but they made no threatening moves. After all, she was still delivering their food. While she was enjoying them, she called home. This time Catherine answered. “Emma! When are you coming home? We haven’t seen you for ages.”
“A couple of weeks isn’t ages. How are you and Patrick?”
“He’s driving me crazy. He’s got a dozen girls calling him every night. And they all want me to tell him how wonderful they are. OMG! The girls are supposed to get the beauty in the family. All I got is brains. He’s got brains and beauty.”
“You’re beautiful.”
“I’m not popular. You know what that’s like.”
“You are popular.”
“I play chess. I’m a geek. You weren’t popular either. Oh, sorry...”
Emma laughed. “I wasn’t popular in high school, but I caught up in college. Don’t sweat it, baby sister. As to when I’m coming home, who knows? Maybe never. I really, really like it here. I like the people and the informality and not having to dress up all the time. I have not put on a pair of panty hose since I got here.”
“I’ll bet there’s a guy, isn’t there? Who is he, Emma? What does he do? Is he big and gorgeous? You and I are too tall to mess with short guys.”
“Yes, there is a guy. He’s my neighbor across the street. Yes, he is big and gorgeous. He’s a game warden.”
“A what? You’re not serious. Daddy will have kittens. He is such a snob.”
“It’s not serious. Yet. Maybe never. Remember, Daddy endorsed Trip the first time I brought him to dinner. Some track record he’s got.”
“Trip tried to hit on me once.”
“Catherine, are you sure that’s what it was?”
“Of course I am. Not hard. Big-time flirty. I’m almost sixteen and taller than you. I shut him down.”
“Don’t tell Daddy. He’ll kill him.”
“Duh. Can Patrick and I come up in a couple of weeks when school is out?”
“One of you will have to sleep on the couch or bring a sleeping bag. Besides, I may be back home by then. For a visit anyway.”
“For real? Oh, I got a call on the other line.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “It’s a boy. Bye.”
Emma clicked off the phone. Had she made an error confiding in her sister about Seth? Catherine tended to tell Andrea everything. What Andrea knew, Daddy knew.
David French didn’t realize he was a snob, but everyone else did. Well, he could just suck it up. Seth was a truly fine man—smart, kind, compassionate. He did what he liked and was good at it. About time her father started recommending guys based on merit rather than Dun & Bradstreet ratings.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
DAVID FRENCH CALLED at eight thirty the next morning to tell her all too casually that he was driving up to see her and asked that she make a reservation for lunch at a nice restaurant.
When Emma stopped laughing, she said, “I’ll fix sandwiches for lunch. Reservations not required.”
“Why don’t you invite your neighbor to join us?”
“I doubt he’d be available.”
“I always enjoy meeting your friends. What’s his name?”
“I didn’t tell Catherine, did I? So you don’t know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing someone local? And his name is?”
“First, because it’s none of your business who lives across the street from me. Second, his name is Seth Logan. He’s a game warden, as I’m sure you heard.”
“Ah, yes. Interesting job, I’m sure. I would enjoy meeting him.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Or not. She called Seth, told him her father was coming and said that if he wanted to drop by for a drink midafternoon, he was welcome. She didn’t offer lunch. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of what Seth did. She was proud of him and his job; he was the finest man she knew. He was also, unlike Trip, a gentleman.
She simply didn’t want him to endure a whole lunch of “What are your career plans?” “Do you always intend to live in Williamston?” Blah, blah, blah. And the life Emma lived in town and her town house and her job and her friends and blah, blah, blah. Not doing it.
Not getting the linen napkins out either. Paper was fine.
Daddy arrived at one. He always preferred a late lunch. Emma had been snacking since eleven thirty. She took up some time by showing him Peony, Rose and Sycamore, although he chose not to toss them any treats.
“My dear girl, what have you been up to?” He laughed. “You can’t seriously consider trying to live on the salary from this Joe job at a veterinary clinic and raising skunks. I’m sure it’s fascinating, but...”
Emma loved her father and knew he loved her. She knew he wanted what was best for her. The difficulty arose when what he thought was best wasn’t what Emma thought was best. If she’d been a different sort of person she’d have accepted his suggestions. She wanted to live up to his expectations, but she couldn’t. The time since she’d come to The Hovel was the happiest and freest of her life. And now there was Seth, the most wonderful, caring man she’d ever known.
As she poured the coffee, she heard Seth’s SUV pull into her driveway. The car door slammed and a moment later he was at the front door.
“God, he’s immense,” her father whispered.
Actually, the two men seemed to take to one another. Daddy was seriously interested in what Seth did. They shared golfing and fishing and boating and basketball. Emma was reduced to waitressing, keeping the coffee topped up and filling Seth with shortbread cookies. He handled Mr. French’s questions with aplomb.
When Seth left to go check out a problem at one of the marinas, the two men shook hands.
“He seems like a nice young man,” he said as they watched Seth drive away.
“Don’t patronize either of us, Daddy.”
He draped his arm around her shoulder. “Emma, are you pregnant? If that’s what all this is about, you have choices. You do not have to marry this man.”
She blinked. “Pregnant?” She burst out laughing. “No, Daddy, I am not pregnant. And who said anything about marriage?”
“He’s crazy about you. You are certainly a catch in every respect. If he doesn’t want to marry you, he’s a fool, and I don’t think he’s any kind of a fool.”
“So what would happen if we were to get married? You’d disown me?”
“Don’t be silly, Emma, of course not. I would do everything in my power to move him into a career that was worthy of him. He wanted to become a veterinarian, didn’t he? Or there’s always law school.”
“A job worthy of you, you mean. Watch it, Daddy, I’m getting close to tossing you out of my house.”
“Be sensible. What sort of life would you have with him? He seems like a decent, competent man. He obviously cares for you. I like him. But liking a man doesn’t make
him right for my daughter. You can do better. I know Trip disappointed you...”
“You might say that.”
“But he offered you the life you’re used to with people you’ve known for years. If you marry Seth, you’re looking at maybe fifty years or more of living in the middle of nowhere with a man who may or may not come home on time or at all. A man who’s in danger a good deal of the time. What do you share when he’s at home? Great sex? You’ve heard the old story about the jar of beans.”
“One of your lawyer jokes?” Emma asked.
He patted her arm. “The day you get married, you start putting a bean in the jar for every time you make love throughout the year. The next year and forever after, you remove one bean from the jar for every time you make love. Most people die without ever emptying the jar.”
“Who do you think would be right for me, Daddy? The CEO of a Fortune 500 company? We marry, he cheats during our honeymoon, then six months later the company goes bankrupt and he has a stroke that leaves him paralyzed. And impotent.”
“Hardly likely. CEOs have good doctors.”
“That isn’t funny, Daddy. I want to marry a man I’d still love and want to be with if all those things happened. After Momma died, did you think, ‘I wish I’d never met her’?”
“Of course not! I’m grateful for every moment we had together, just as I’m grateful for every moment Andrea and I have. Nobody knows what’s coming down the pike. All I’m saying is that you have to play the odds. Start as you mean to go on. This—” he waved a hand at the little farmhouse “—is no way to start.”
“I don’t think I’ve been truly happy since Momma died. I kept feeling it was my fault that she left us, Daddy.”
“I have heard that’s a fairly standard reaction among children who lose a parent early either to death or divorce. You know now that isn’t true, don’t you?”
“That was then. I couldn’t figure out who I was without her. I wanted to be who you wanted me to be so you wouldn’t miss her so much. I was scared all the time that I wasn’t good enough, that I was letting you down. I kept going because I was afraid not to. When I’m with Seth, I do know who I am. I’m not scared I have to be somebody else. He sees me and loves me anyway, just as I love him.”
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