A Man Worth Remembering

by Delores Fossen

  Leigh shook her head. “Thanks though.” She deserved anything Gabe dished out, and she didn’t want an audience for it.

  By tacit agreement, they went outside through the back door. Leigh didn’t stop walking when she went down the steps and into the yard. She felt as if she would explode if she didn’t keep moving, and if she had to look Gabe in the eye. She couldn’t imagine what he was feeling right now, but it couldn’t be good.

  “You should have told me,” Gabe let her know as they started down a narrow path away from the house. Thankfully, the dog stayed on the back porch and didn’t try to follow them. Leigh didn’t want to add the Doberman to what she already had to face.

  Gabe kicked at a cluster of dandelion fluff, causing little white umbrellas to scatter everywhere. “You had no right.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  He didn’t seem to hear her. “How the hell could you do this to me?”

  “I don’t know.” And Leigh really didn’t know. If the same scenario played out now, she knew she would tell Gabe about their son. Even if he rejected her and Houston, she would have still told him the truth and relied on him to help her keep their child safe.

  They reached a small pond and stopped under a cluster of live oak trees. It was a tranquil place with ducks and lily pads floating on the water. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear wind chimes. It was definitely too tranquil for the storm brewing between them.

  “I don’t care what your plans were,” Gabe continued. “From now on, you won’t cut me out of my son’s life.”

  No, she wouldn’t. Of course, he hadn’t mentioned anything about wanting to stay in her life. It didn’t surprise Leigh. This was, well, unforgivable. Unforgivable for Gabe. And for her.

  “I’M WAITING for an answer,” Gabe insisted when Leigh didn’t say anything.

  Leigh slumped against the tree. “I have no intention of cutting you out of Houston’s life again.” She slid downward and sat on the ground. “Sweet heaven, you don’t think I can justify what I’ve done, do you?”

  “No.” He had his fists clenched at his sides, and the veins in his neck felt ready to burst.

  She shook her head. “I lied to you. I kept your son from you. What kind of person does something like that, Gabe? No wonder I have amnesia. I don’t want to have to remember all the truly rotten things I’ve done.”

  That wasn’t especially what he wanted to hear. He was spoiling for an argument and didn’t want her to concede so easily.

  Leigh looked up at him. “Well, say something. Anything. Go ahead and yell at me.”

  His fists clenched even tighter until he felt his nails dig into his skin. But he couldn’t yell. This was a hurt, a wound, that cut all the way to his soul. Yelling wouldn’t do a thing to fix that.

  “I can see the pain in your eyes.” Leigh’s voice was the only sound around them. “I don’t know how I can ever make it up to you.”

  “You can’t,” he snapped.

  “I know.” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth.

  Gabe tried to hang on to the anger, but he felt it slip a considerable notch when he saw a tear spill down her cheek. He slowly lowered himself to the ground beside her. “I hate it when you cry.”

  She quickly wiped away the evidence. “Sorry.” Leigh turned away from him. It didn’t fool Gabe. He knew there were still fresh tears in her eyes. “What are we going to do?”

  He wished like hell he knew. This wasn’t a broken promise or a heated argument. This was his son. He’d lost a year and a half of his son’s life, and all because Leigh hadn’t trusted him with the truth. She hadn’t trusted him to protect them both.

  “I don’t know a thing about kids,” Gabe mumbled. That seemed the least of his worries, but it was a worry. Besides, it seemed less explosive than discussing the other aspects of this issue.

  “Neither do I. I don’t even know that song he likes. The song Houston likes,” she corrected, emphasizing his name. “I don’t even know why I named him Houston.”

  Gabe blew out a long breath. “Probably because that’s where you conceived him. If I’ve done the math right, a little over two years ago we spent a couple of weeks in Houston working on a case. When we were done, we stayed an extra couple of days for a second honeymoon.”

  She wiped away another tear and glanced at him. “You don’t doubt he’s your child, do you?”

  He felt the muscles in his jaw jump. “No. He’s mine.” He had no doubts about that. The only doubts he had were about Leigh. “He looks just like me.”

  “Yes. Except he has my eyes.”

  Gabe had noticed. He’d never be able to look into Houston’s face without seeing Leigh’s eyes. DNA sure had a warped sense of humor.

  “So, what do we do?” she repeated.

  He still wanted to yell and blast her with all the emotions that bounced around inside him. But he was too beat to do that. Besides, Houston added a new wrinkle not only to his personal life but to security measures. Right now, Gabe had to make that his first priority.

  “We’ll have to deal with all of this later,” he let her know. “We can’t stay here much longer.”

  “Yes,” she mumbled and then repeated it. “But where will we go?”

  “A safe house.”

  “I shouldn’t have to remind you that wasn’t the answer for Frank.”

  “Not an FBI safe house,” Gabe corrected. “I have to find out who’s trying to kill us. I can’t do that if I’m worried about Houston’s safety.” And hers, of course. He was still too angry to add that part. “My brother has a place near Corpus Christi. He’s not there this time of year, so we can use it. Shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours to make sure it’s safe enough for you and the others to stay there.”

  That quickly brought Leigh to her feet. “Gabe, I don’t want to be tucked away in some house while you’re out chasing bad guys.”

  “That’s too bad. The rules have changed. One of us has to watch Houston. Whoever is after you could use him to get to us.”

  The color drained from her face. “You mean the way they tried to use Philip.”

  “Worse than that. Philip’s a grown man and can take care of himself. My son can’t.”

  My son. The words rang through his head, and Gabe wondered if he would ever be able to say that and not remember the pain Leigh had caused him. At the moment, it sure seemed like too much to hope for.

  Leigh pressed her fists against each side of her head. “This would be so much easier if I just had my memory back. Then I might know who’s behind everything.”

  That was true, but since they couldn’t wait around for that to happen, Gabe had to go about this from a different angle. “Maybe I can figure it out some other way. There might be something at your house, some kind of information maybe that you’ve stored in your computer.”

  She seemed to give that some thought and then nodded. “Maybe. After all, I knew someone was making computer inquiries. I had to learn that somehow. Maybe I kept notes.”

  It was certainly worth a try. Eventually, they had to get lucky. “I need to work out some arrangements. And I need to call Jinx to let him know what’s going on. Houston can stay with Jenny and Philip while you and I make a quick trip to your house. We’ll take Philip’s car.” That way, it might throw off Teresa or anyone else who happened to have a description of Jinx’s vehicle. “While we’re in San Antonio, I’ll have my father arrange for security at my brother’s place.”

  “Yes,” she said softly. “And Gabe? For what it’s worth, I’m really sorry for not telling you about Houston.”

  It was worth a hell of a lot. One day, when the anger had faded some, he just might tell her that.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Leigh hoped a quick shower and a change of clothes would clear her head so she could find something valuable in the information on her computer. So far, neither the shower nor the comfortable cotton dress had worked. She still couldn’t find what she needed, but she continued
to search through the information while Gabe answered the call that came in on his phone. What she saw on the screen in front of her didn’t please her.

  There were notes about the computer inquiries—dates and times when the records had been accessed—going back almost the entire two years since she’d disappeared. There was even a summary of the weapons that had been found a few weeks earlier in that raid of the militia compound. She’d apparently known those weapons were from Dayton’s original cache. However, what was missing was any speculation about the identity of Dayton’s accomplice.

  In other words, another dead end.

  Of course, she hadn’t thought that she’d leave such sensitive information in a home computer, but Gabe had been right—it was worth a try. It was a good use of time while they waited for his father to set up security at the house in Corpus Christi.

  She got up from the computer and stretched. “Nothing,” Leigh mumbled under her breath. And that nothing just didn’t apply to her computer files either. As she’d done at Philip’s, she glanced around the room but didn’t recognize anything about the place she’d called home for over a year.

  Nothing.

  To her brain, it was just a three-bedroom house in a somewhat modest subdivision on the north side of San Antonio. If it hadn’t been for the upgraded security system and burglar bars on the windows, it probably would have seemed like the home of any other single mom with a toddler.

  To her heart though, the house was much more than that.

  It had become her hiding place. A place she’d kept her child from his father. What thought process had she used to reach the point where she would do something like that? Leigh didn’t know and wondered if she would ever understand the actions she’d taken.

  Behind her, Gabe was on his cell phone with Teresa. Leigh didn’t bother to ask how the woman had gotten the number. She’d already learned that Agent Walters was capable of retrieving such things as phone numbers and messages. It was yet one more reason not to trust her.

  As if Leigh needed another reason.

  If it turned out that Teresa was behind these attempts to kill her, Leigh wouldn’t forgive herself for not stopping the woman back in Grand Valley.

  She heard Gabe mention two names. Men’s names that she didn’t recognize, but she knew from other parts of his conversation that they were names of the two people who’d died at the safe house. Hired guns, Gabe added. But he didn’t seem to have the answer as to who hired them.

  She left Gabe in the study and walked through to the adjoining family room. Something squeaked when she stepped onto the thick carpet, and the sound sent her heart racing. It took her a moment to figure out that it was her son’s toy turtle. She automatically picked it up and tossed it into the nearby toy box.

  Too bad the rest of her problems couldn’t be solved so easily.

  Gabe had only been back in her life a couple of days. Mere hours. And for all practical purposes, he’d been a stranger when he pulled her out of that lake. At first, she’d distrusted him, argued with him and fought the attraction that had immediately drawn her to him.

  And somewhere along the way, she’d fallen in love with him all over again.

  Leigh stood there next to her son’s toy box and let that sink in. She was in love with Gabe. With her husband. Other than those who claimed love at first sight, this was probably some kind of record. It certainly didn’t make things easier, especially since she had no idea if Gabe and she could even have a future together.

  So, the real question was—what was she going to do about it? Or better yet, what would Gabe do about it? Would he even consider forgiving her? Would he risk giving her another chance?

  She turned and walked back through the kitchen to find him, but Gabe wasn’t in the study where she’d left him. Leigh didn’t panic. She knew he wouldn’t leave her alone in the house. He’d probably come to the same conclusions she had about the information on the computer—that it wasn’t helpful—and decided there was no reason to keep staring at the screen.

  Leigh followed the hallway to the end and found him in Houston’s bedroom. The walls had been painted sunshine yellow, and there was a double bed next to the crib. She’d likely spent many nights sleeping in her son’s room, probably because she’d feared for their safety.

  Gabe’s back was to her, his gaze focused on something on the dresser. She glanced over his shoulder to see what had captured his attention. It was a photograph of Gabe.

  “Thank you for that,” he said without looking back at her.

  “It seems a paltry substitute now. I must have been scared. I’m not trying to make excuses, because I know what I did was wrong. It was stupid not to trust you to protect us.” Frustrated with his silence, and her own babbling, Leigh shook her head. “Look, I wish you’d just yell or something and get it over with. I know you’re furious but—”

  “Yeah, I am,” he snapped.

  She waited for more. But that seemed to be the sum total of what should have been a tirade. Gabe certainly had a right to a vent and rant.

  “That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?” Leigh demanded. God, she was practically picking a fight, but she couldn’t stand the silent treatment any longer. She deserved to be yelled at. “Will you at least look at me?”

  He did. Gabe eased around to face her. And face her, he did. Leigh immediately regretted that she’d issued such a demand. There was something almost dangerous in the depths of those fiery blue eyes, and there was definitely something unnerving about the way he combed his gaze over her.

  Gabe took a single step toward her, nearly halving the distance between them. The room suddenly seemed very, very small. And where had the air gone?

  Leigh held her ground. Barely. “What are you going to do?” She felt her pulse sprint out of control. Not from fear. Not this. This was something that stirred deep within her blood.

  His gaze never left hers. “Get on the bed.”

  She’d braced herself to hear Gabe say or shout almost anything. But not that. Certainly not that. Sweet heaven. The timing was all wrong.

  Wasn’t it?

  Then, why did she feel that slow melting heat slide down the length of her entire body?

  He caught onto her arm and maneuvered her to the bed. “Sit down. I want to check your bandage.”

  “Oh.” That. Just that. Leigh tried to force herself not to be disappointed. Or scream. After all, the timing reeked for practically everything that had crossed her mind in the last thirty seconds. And a lot of things had crossed her mind.

  Gabe stooped, pulled her foot into his lap and unwound the bandage. “When you get to my brother’s house, you’ll need a doctor to take a look at this.”

  “Of course.”

  “It seems to be healing,” he continued. “But it wouldn’t hurt to have those stitches checked.”

  “Sure.” Leigh groaned when she heard her polite, clinical tone. It matched Gabe’s to a tee, but it was nowhere near a match for what she was feeling inside. “If you yell at me, it might make you feel better.”

  He rewrapped the bandage and kept his attention focused solely on that. “Why are you so anxious to hear me raise my voice, huh?”

  “Because I’m hoping it’ll get us talking again. Really talking. And I don’t mean this chitchat stuff either. I mean a real, pertinent discussion about us, and about our son.”

  Gabe looked up at her. And looked. She did her own share of looking and liked everything she saw. The man certainly had her hormonal number. Probably a conditioned response to all those times he’d made love to her. Or maybe she’d always reacted this way to him. It was like being micro-zapped with a lethal dose of testosterone.

  “You want to talk, Leigh?” he asked, his words slow and deliberate. He kept his gaze fixed right on her while he tugged off the sandals that she’d put on after her shower. He let the shoes drop to the floor.

  Gabe still had her foot in his lap, and with that same slow and deliberate pace, he slid his hand ov
er the inside curve of her ankle. And he just kept moving up. Inch by inch. One unhurried caress at a time. His touch was hot, arousing. And effective.

  His hand came to a stop at the back of her knee. “Well?” he prompted. “Is that what you want?”

  Leigh tried to answer him, even though she had no idea what to say. Leave it to Gabe to render her speechless. She settled for shaking her head.

  “Know what I think?” he went on. That clever hand began to move again. Adding some slight pressure, he slid his fingers from her knee onto her thigh. He pushed up her dress along the way, baring her skin to his touch. “I think we could talk and yell until there’s no breath left in us. But what would we accomplish?”

  She shook her head again, aware of the instant energy that simmered between them. “Gabe—”

  “It wouldn’t accomplish much.” He brushed his thumb over the little spot just above the back of her knee.

  Leigh’s breath shuddered. She shoved her palms against the mattress to keep herself from falling backward and just looked at him. His face, strong and angled. Handsome. Those intense eyes. The shape of his sensual mouth. His bronze-colored hand resting against the inside of her thigh.

  He shifted his weight until he was kneeling between her legs, and he leaned in closer. Leigh felt his warm breath brush over her. He was nearly touching her panties. But not quite. It was that not quite that made her want to ask for more. Much, much more.

  “I mean, what’s there to say?” Gabe asked. “You feel the need to keep telling me you’re sorry. Heck, I know that already. Just like you know when everything is said and done, we’ll figure out a way to work through what’s happened.”

  “We will?” she managed to say, though it had little sound.

  He touched his mouth to the inside of her thigh. “We will.”

  She hissed when that touch turned to a full-fledged kiss. Oh, my. Her heart pounded. And she suddenly wanted him more than her next breath.

  His hand went higher, bunching up her dress until both his hand and the loose cotton stopped at the juncture of her thighs. He lowered his head again. Paused. And snared her gaze once more. His eyebrow arched in what would normally be a questioning gesture. But there were no questions in his suddenly smoky eyes.