by Hope Ramsay
And while it might have been a complete turn-on to let her undress him, he didn’t think he could stand it. He wanted to feel his skin against hers. Right now. So he batted her hands away and shucked his clothes in a matter of seconds.
And then the fun began in earnest.
And that was amazing, because being with her was fun. And mind blowing, too.
CHAPTER
21
Zeph didn’t rightly know what he should do. He stood up, feeling like the walls of the old theater were closing in on him. Gabe’s fans were all looking at him like he was some kind of freak show. Meanwhile, Savannah Randall remained standing as she watched Jenny run from the theater on bare feet.
And Nita… was on her way up the stairs to the podium.
“Well. I reckon that was a little surprising,” Nita said into the mic. “But y’all already know that Mr. Raintree is a funny man. So, without further ado, why don’t y’all sit back and enjoy Black Water. Your servers will be coming around to take your dessert and drink orders.”
The house lights dimmed, and the opening credits of the movie started, while a slow confused murmur spread through the crowd. Clearly they felt they’d been cheated in some way.
Of course, the local folks didn’t feel cheated at all. They were stunned.
And Zeph was furious. He’d tried to leave his anger in the past. He’d given it up after Vietnam, but here it was right front and center.
He’d never been so angry.
So when Nita came down those stairs, he was waiting for her in the darkness, and he grabbed her by the arm, and he pulled her out through the same side door that Gabe had escaped through.
She didn’t fight him, which only registered when they got to the sidewalk. And suddenly he was ashamed. He’d manhandled her, and she was a fine lady, and he was, well, he wasn’t much of anything.
And just like that his anger disappeared. And he was grateful for his self-control. His daddy had had a terrible temper, and Zeph had spent an entire lifetime trying not to be his daddy.
“I know you’re upset,” Nita said.
He took a deep breath and blew it out. “I was a minute ago. But I’m getting over it.”
She laughed. “You always were like that.”
“What?”
She shrugged. “I remember you from grade school and high school. You were the one who watched out for the little kids. You were the one who stood up to the bullies, but you never took a swing. You just used words. And I admired that so much. You were a peacemaker. How on earth does a peacemaker end up in Vietnam?”
He couldn’t speak a word.
“What?” she said. “Cat got your tongue.”
“You watched me?”
“I did.”
“I watched you.”
“Did you? I had no idea. I might have been happy to know.”
“Me too.”
She took a big breath and hugged herself. She was cold. He took off his jacket and draped it across her shoulders.
“My library program has raised a lot of money,” she said, “but I don’t think it’s going to be a success in the way I intended. Still, if it got you and Gabriel Raintree to acknowledge the truth, then I’m pleased.”
“The truth hurt him. I’ve been trying to save him from that hurt.”
“Just like on the playground.” She turned and looked at him. “Zeph Gibbs, sometimes you can’t save people from being hurt. Sometimes life is just hurtful, and you have to deal with it and move on. Lord knows I’ve been hurt a few times, but it’s made me stronger. It’s made me know what I value and what I don’t.
“Gabe will be better for knowing the truth. He’ll find his peace one day. And if you believe the silly matchmakers in this town, it’s possible that Jenny Carpenter is exactly the medicine Gabe needs. Do you have faith in the matchmakers, Zeph?”
He felt the corner of his mouth tip. “I reckon I do.”
“Zeph, the matchmakers in this town have given up on me.”
“They’ve given up on me, too.”
She turned all the way around and pointed a finger at his chest. “You know, sometimes you can go searching for something you think you’ve lost, or something that you think you’ll only find in some far-off place, and then one day you take a little trip down the local road and make a left turn down to the river, and there it is, plain as day: The thing you thought you’d lost forever. The thing you thought you’d never be able to find unless you went on some big-ass search.”
“Nita, what are you saying?”
She reached up and put her hand on his cheek. “I’m saying, Zeph, that I had the worst crush on you when I was fifteen. And somehow I never had the courage to tell you. I reckon it was because of the way your folks lived. I was prejudiced about that. And I guess I’ve been kind of uppity for all these years, until I walked into your home and realized that you were the same person I admired so much at school.”
Zeph didn’t know what to do but the one thing he thought he’d never, ever have a chance to do. He took Nita Wills in his arms, and he kissed her. And he put his whole, big heart into that kiss. To his utter surprise, the librarian kissed him right back.
Gabe woke up sometime around two o’clock and slipped from the bed. He threw on his slacks and shirt and took the dog out for a little walk. Then he got some wood and built a small fire in the hearth.
It wasn’t cold, but the fire would be kind of romantic. And he laughed at himself as he took off his clothes and climbed back into the bed. For once, his sheets weren’t freezing cold.
He propped himself on the pillow and watched Jenny sleep. Her hair was all tumbled across the pillow. In the fire’s glow it danced with red highlights. She was breathing deeply with a contented smile on her lips.
Strange and tender emotions rushed through him. She was changing him in some elemental way. She’d told him that she would meet him in his darkest place, and she’d pretty well done it.
She’d faced that place with no fear and only love. And last night she’d told him that she thought he was kind and good. He didn’t see it. He knew she had put on her rose-colored glasses. But he wanted to be kind and good. He wanted to be that man because she loved him as if he were.
What would happen when one day she woke up from this dream and realized she’d made a mistake?
He couldn’t bear to think about what that would do to him. But there was a chance it would happen. He hadn’t told her all his secrets. He’d only just told her about his illness. There were others secrets, some of them pretty hard to swallow. So he had to be prepared for it.
But he had time. He had the opportunity to become a better man. He could give her his heart. Hell, who was he kidding? She already had his heart.
And that was pretty scary because, the last time he’d fallen in love, his heart had been crushed.
He couldn’t bear thinking about that. So he pushed it all away and leaned over his love and kissed her right in the place he’d discovered at the base of her throat. Yeah, that spot.
She sighed, and then she groaned, and then she opened her eyes. Without her glasses, that gaze was slightly myopic, which was sexy as hell.
“You built a fire.”
“I did. I also walked the dog.”
“Oh good. I forgot.” She smiled and snuggled against him.
And he spent the next thirty minutes waking her up.
Dawn lit the windows in the back bedroom. Jenny lay in the curl of Gabe’s arms, her body warm as she watched the day break. It was Sunday. She should be getting up and heading for church. If she didn’t show up, there would be gossip.
She didn’t care.
Gabe pulled her a little closer, the stubble on his chin abrading her temple. She wanted to stay like this forever.
But Bear had other ideas. He must have sensed that she was awake because he got up from his place by the now-cold fire and trotted over to her side of the bed. He put his snout up where she could give him a pet if she was of a mind to.<
br />
He had adorable, pleading, deep, puppy-dog eyes. And he let go of a little whine.
She glanced at her watch. It was just after seven o’clock. He needed a walk. And then maybe she could make a nice breakfast for Gabe. Something without a lot of carbohydrates.
She wiggled out of Gabe’s arms, reluctant to leave that warmth for the cold February morning. But she also needed to visit the loo.
She tiptoed out of the room, gathering clothes as she went, then skedaddled up to the Rose Room, washed her face, and dressed in jeans and a sweater and a pair of sneakers. She pulled on her big, puffy coat.
“C’mon boy,” she said, getting the leash from its hook by the door. “We’ll let your master sleep in this morning. He had kind of a rough day yesterday and a busy night last night. So this morning, it’s just you and me on a walk down by the river.”
They headed out the back door and took the path by the rhododendrons that eventually led to the public boat launch. Somewhere along this path had been the target range where Luke had been killed. You wouldn’t know it today; the woods and the kudzu had taken the clearing back, and that was probably a good thing.
She started to whistle one of Grandpa’s silly songs. She was as light as a feather. The world was a beautiful place.
Bear stopped to investigate all the interesting scents along the trail. She didn’t hurry him up, even though she was anxious to get back to Gabe. She realized, as the sun crept higher, promising another unseasonably warm February day, that she had all the time in the world. Gabe wasn’t going anywhere. They had found each other.
Savannah had told her to go after him.
She smiled at that. He was the handsome man that Miriam had promised her. Handsome on the inside, and really, he was pretty darn hot on the outside, too. She couldn’t imagine why she hadn’t seen it at first.
They reached the public pier. The brown water of the Edisto River gurgled past with little swirls and eddies and bubbles marring its surface. The current was usually strong this time of year, and the water was always cold.
She and Bear walked out onto the pier and watched the sun rising. There wasn’t a clear view to the horizon, but the dawn light filtered through bare branches and painted the clumps of Spanish moss in gold. Her mind was a million miles away, lost in the beauty of the moment and the peace in her heart.
The first clue that she wasn’t alone was the sound of a step on the boards behind her, and then Bear growled and tugged on his leash.
She was just turning around when someone taller and stronger grabbed her from behind, placing an ice-cold hand across her mouth. A husky voice said, “I tried to warn you. But no, you didn’t listen. You can’t have him. He’s mine.”
Bear started barking, and she instinctively let go of his leash as she tried to break the hold of her attacker. She didn’t know what Bear was up to, only that he was barking and growling. She wanted to tell Bear to run away and get Gabe or Zeph or anyone, but the dog wasn’t leaving her.
Maybe the dog could bite her attacker, maybe—
The person behind her gave a mighty shove, and Jenny toppled over the edge of the pier and into the river. Her clothes dragged her under, the current took her, and the icy water paralyzed her.
Gabe awoke with a start. Something wasn’t right. The room was bitterly cold. Jenny and Bear were gone, and he didn’t have to guess that the ghost was agitated.
He rolled out of bed and reached for his dress pants. “Jenny,” he called, but got no answer. He scooped his shirt and jacket from the floor where he’d tossed them last night. His heart was galloping.
“Jenny?”
No answer. He ran into the kitchen. The leash was gone. She’d taken the dog for a walk. It was okay.
Only it wasn’t. The ghost was almost in a frenzy, and for the first time, he nudged at Gabe’s mind. He needed to find Jenny, now. Gabe tore out of the back door because that seemed like the only reasonable thing to do.
And that’s when he heard Bear. The noise was terrible. Barks and growls and then yelps, as if he’d been hurt in some way.
Terror of the kind he’d never known seized him as he ran down the path toward the public boat pier. The barking and yelping ended before he’d taken more than ten steps but he continued down the path, sliding and slipping in his haste.
When he reached the pier, poor Bear was lying on his side, bloodied but still alive. He raised his head and gave a weak bark. Gabe fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face.
“Oh, Bear, who did this to you? Where’s Jenny?” His voice broke.
Something pushed him from behind.
He turned, but no one was there, just the oppressive feeling that he wasn’t alone. The ghost poked him again. Gabe scrambled to his feet.
A wind sprang up that blew so hard he almost lost his breath, and yet the trees remained perfectly still on this mild winter day. Gabe couldn’t stand against the force that pushed him downriver. He turned his back to the wind and started walking past the boat launch and the small parking lot, and into the weedy, wild riverbank, the habitat of water moccasins.
The banks were steep here, and he had to wade in the shallows, his dress shoes filling with icy water. And then he saw her, snagged on a log, her face white as death.
He reached Jenny a moment later and managed to get her waterlogged body into his arms. He carried her upriver and to the parking lot, where he lay her down on the winter-brown grass, leaned over her, and listened to see if she was breathing.
Thank God. But she was unconscious and pale and cold as death. He took off his jacket and draped it over her body. Then he pulled his cell phone out of the pocket and dialed 911.
Jenny huddled under an electric blanket. She was dressed in a hospital gown and was resting in one of the beds at the Last Chance clinic. Annie Jasper was checking her vital signs. “You gave us all a real scare,” Annie said patting her arm. “How’s your head?”
“All right,” she lied. She had a splitting headache but she wasn’t about to whine about it. The river had apparently washed her right into a cypress knee or a fallen log or something, and she’d hit her noggin. Doc Cooper said it was a lucky thing that she came to rest faceup; otherwise she might have drowned. As it was, the doc was worried about a concussion and hypothermia.
Jenny was worried about Bear. She’d regained consciousness in the parking lot, shivering under Gabe’s leather coat as he tried to keep her warm. She’d heard Bear’s whines.
“Do you know how bad the dog is hurt?”
Annie shook her head. “No, I don’t. I heard Gabe talking to Charlene Polk on the phone, though. I think he needs surgery. Something about a broken back.”
Tears leaked from her eyes. Damn. He should have run away when she let go of the leash. But no, he had to play hero.
Annie patted her shoulder. “Honey, I don’t want you to worry, you hear. The sheriff is all over this like a cheap suit. And the doc said it was okay for him to come ask you a few questions. Are you up to it?”
She nodded, but her head was on fire. And her heart was breaking over the dog.
A minute later Sheriff Rhodes came striding into the cubicle where she was recovering. He filled up the small space with his large presence.
“Where’s Gabe?” she asked.
“He’s fine. He’ll be in when I’m finished. We like to interview witnesses individually. It helps get the story right.”
“Okay.”
“So how did you end up in the river?”
“Someone pushed me.”
“Did you see who it was?”
“No. But she said something to me.”
“She?”
“I’m pretty sure it was a woman. She was tall though. Much bigger than me. Maybe five-ten and really strong.”
“What did she say?”
“She said something about having warned me but that I hadn’t paid attention. And then she said something about how I couldn’t have something. I don’t remember.”
; “All right, Jenny, I’m going to be blunt. You are moving into the apartment above the Cut ’n Curl until I can bring this person to justice. I’m pretty sure that the person who stole the chickens and vandalized your kitchen is the same one who attacked you and the dog. And I’m practically certain that I know who it is, but proving it is another thing altogether. I’ve got exactly no evidence, and you and the dog are not exactly good witnesses since you didn’t see her and the dog can’t talk.”
“You know who did this?”
He nodded, his face as sober as a judge’s.
“It’s not someone from Dennis Hayden’s campaign, is it. They wouldn’t have attacked a dog or pushed me in the river.”
He shook his head.
“Who then?”
“Gabe Raintree’s wife.”
CHAPTER
22
Gabe’s gratitude to God and the Last Chance emergency rescue team—and yes, even his brother’s ghost—knew no limits. Jenny was sitting up in bed, her cheeks pink, her hair all tumbled. She was alive. And she was pissed off. And she had every reason to be.
“You have a wife?”
“We’re estranged,” he said. Boy, there was a euphemism.
“When, exactly, were you going to tell me this?” She looked away, her mouth narrowing with her fury. “I am such an idiot. I do this all the time. It’s like the minute I think I’m interested in someone, I put on the rose-colored glasses.” She shook her head, but her eyes were filling with tears.
“Jenny, listen to me. I’m sorry I disappointed you. But it was bound to happen. I’m not nearly as good or as kind as you think I am. You don’t know me very well. I wish I could be the man you want, but I’m not. I’ll never be.”
“Because you’re married. That might have been nice to know before we got naked.”
“I haven’t lived with Delilah in more than eight years, but we are still technically man and wife. More important, I made a promise to keep her in sickness and in health. And I try to keep my promises.”