“I love you,” she blurted out, shocking herself.
“I love you,” he responded soberly. “And I want to make sure we have a life together with our child, so I’m taking you home.”
The sickness stopped sometime in the afternoon, but that didn’t mean she was over it. No, no. Not by a long shot. It was always this way when she was coming down. Sleep like the dead for three days and then wake up sick. But she’d managed to place the call, and the request had been made. By this time tomorrow, no more Jarred Bryant. And probably no more Jonathan, if the reports she got from the hospital were accurate. Well, he’d been a weak link anyway. A man who indulged in sex for the joy of cheating and serving his own pleasures. But she knew a little something about sex that he didn’t. It was for profit and for profit only. She’d just made the mistake of giving it away all those years ago. Believed in love. Hah! What a miserable joke that was. There was no love. Only sex and profit.
And she’d be damned if that profit ended up in Jarred Bryant’s hands.
Chapter Fifteen
Kelsey sat at the bar in the kitchen, feeling uneasy. Jarred had driven her home and left again for the hospital. There were so many unsettled issues that she felt slightly depressed. Though Jarred had been her shadow for the last few weeks, his father’s illness had taken precedence. And though that was as it should be, Kelsey couldn’t help wishing she were with him tonight. She needed him. She should be with him during this time more than ever, but for some reason he wanted her “safe,” and that apparently meant away from him.
And Friday was his birthday.
“Jonathan, please don’t die,” she said to the silent room. Her answer was an unsolicited visit from both Felix and Mr. Dog. They sat a foot apart from each other and stared up at Kelsey, and for some reason this brought the tears that had been threatening her for so long.
“Come here,” she invited, sliding down to the floor. Mr. Dog lay his head on her lap and gazed up at her with rapidly switching eyebrows, as if trying on new expressions to lighten up the moment. Felix seemed to think about it a moment, then started washing his face. But he couldn’t take Kelsey’s cooing to Mr. Dog for too long, and he sauntered over and butted his head against her elbow until she scratched his ears.
“Hey, there. We’re going to have a new addition to the family. I hope you’ll both be as happy about it as I am.” She swallowed. “Jarred’s happy about it. He said so. But he’s got to worry about his dad right now, so we just have to wait. Okay?”
No answer, but both animals regarded her solemnly.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she said on a sigh.
Jarred sat beside his father’s bed. No change. A coma, yes. But sometimes these things were shorter than one imagined, the doctors had told him. Jonathan seemed fine. Yes, yes. His system has been shutting down, but he’d stabilized. Nothing different from earlier in the evening. Possibly even a slight improvement.
“He asked for a minister,” Dr. Wernst added when he’d finally answered all of Jarred’s probing questions. “Reverend Thompson is here. He talked to your father yesterday and he’s been in and out today. Unfortunately, he hasn’t caught your father when he’s been awake. Would you like to talk to him?”
Jarred gazed blankly at the doctor. “Yes,” he said after a moment, and then he was shown into a small conference room, where he waited for the minister.
Reverend Thompson turned out to be a man not much older than Jarred himself. He shook Jarred’s hand and mouthed good wishes and condolences, and though Jarred had never spoken to a man of the cloth on his own behalf before, he realized how much better he felt just hearing positive thoughts coming from another human being.
“I talked to my father tonight,” Jarred said. “He wanted to see me and tell me things.”
Reverend Thompson nodded. “He told me he wanted to see you.”
“He left me feeling more anxious than relieved,” Jarred revealed. “He told me there was someone out there who wished me dead.”
The reverend blinked several times, but he maintained his composure. In fact, he stayed very still, and Jarred realized suddenly that this news was no surprise to him. “He told you the same thing, didn’t he?”
“We discussed what was most bothering him,” was the careful response.
“He didn’t tell me whom he meant. He was trying to, but he failed. He said he’d thought I’d overheard.”
“I don’t know.” The reverend looked perplexed.
“I think he meant someone from work, but it sounded as if he’d had an affair with this woman. There’s no one there who was even employed while he was there. Except for Gwen, of course, but she’s like an institution. She’s not the kind who would ever think of a man, as far as I can tell. And everyone else is too young and, like I said, simply wasn’t around.” Jarred waited, then said, “What do you think he was trying to tell me?”
“People have many motivations. Your father’s was to set things right with you.”
“I’m asking you if there’s someone at Bryant Industries who had an affair with my father.”
“Your father and I talked privately.”
“I realize that,” Jarred said with forced patience, “but does that mean you can’t help me?”
“I just don’t know what you want to hear. Your father was anxious about a lot of things. He’s worried about you particularly. That’s why he wanted to see you.”
“Who would want me dead?” Jarred asked rhetorically.
“Maybe you’re taking that statement too literally. Your father still may have a chance to tell you. Don’t give up.”
With that, he clasped Jarred’s hand once more and left. Feeling a tad less uneasy, Jarred walked slowly back to his father’s room, where he stared down at the man who seemed to be so full of secrets.
Nola stood by the window. She gazed through the panes. “He came to briefly,” she said without turning around. “Mumbled a bit.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing.” She sighed and half turned. She looked ten years older than she had at the Christmas party. “Something about Gwen actually.”
“Gwen?”
Nola sighed again. “Does it really matter?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact.”
She seemed to want to argue, but thought better of it. Instead she lifted her hands in surrender, then dropped them. “He wanted you to talk to Gwen, I think. Something about Jarred and Gwen and Will and Sarah. But not in that order. I don’t know.” She twisted her necklace in frustration. “Maybe he’s worried about her. She was the rock for him at the company when he was in charge.”
Silence passed between them. Jarred sat by his father’s bedside, lost in thought. A baby. Kelsey and his baby. It left him feeling excited and vulnerable at the same time. He had the image of his life unfurling beautifully only to be snatched away from him.
Kelsey had said it was over with Connor’s death, but all that had changed was that Chance and Connor were both gone. Whatever mysteries had plagued his company were still there. He knew as little now as when he’d first woken up in the hospital.
Except your father was talking with someone about you.
It prickled his spine to remember that conversation now, but as he sat in silence he picked each remembered phrase apart, struggling to recall every syllable and his own interpretation. His father’s voice had been tremulous, scared, anxious. But the woman’s…?
…Forget it. We could never be that lucky…
Anger. And paranoia. A hint of persecution and a tidal wave.of fear.
Uncomfortable, he rotated his neck, thinking he’d heard that tone before. Maybe not her voice exactly, but…
A moment later, it clicked: the description of a drug abuser. Paranoid. Persecuted. Whomever Jonathan had been talking with was a user.
“Your birthday’s Friday,” Nola suddenly said from across the room. Her voice caught as she added, “I want you and Kelsey to come to the house for dinner.”
>
Since there was no planning for whatever would happen to his father, Jarred couldn’t be certain of anything. But then, neither could his mother. Seeing as there was no reason to argue, he said, “All right.” She probably knew it, too.
“How about seven o’clock? I don’t have a present. I hate that tradition anyway.”
Jarred actually smiled. It was all so ludicrous and painfully tragic. Nola glanced around. She saw his face and her own crumpled. Swiftly Jarred crossed the room and held her close. “You should go home,” he told her. “I think I will, too. Kelsey’s waiting for me.”
“I can’t,” she said simply.
Nodding, Jarred kissed his mother on her forehead. It was a rare enough gesture for her to leak those silent tears. “Call me if there’s any change.”
She nodded.
Kelsey heard the hum of the garage door, the slam of his car door, the opening of the back door. She strained to hear his footsteps after that. She was huddled under the covers, anxious for him to come to her. After what felt like an eternity he mounted the stairs, entered the bedroom suite, and strode into the bedroom. He stripped off his clothes and climbed in bed, then wrapped his arms around her.
“How are you?” she asked.
“Don’t talk,” he murmured, his lips against the hair at her nape. “Touch me.”
This she could do. Willingly. She was glad, too, that he felt the need to make love because she felt it like a stirring of her soul. Moving silkily beneath the blankets, she curled her naked limbs against his. She wore a wisp of satin that Jarred’s warm hands pulled off her. His mouth touched the flesh at the base of her neck, his tongue circling the skin over and over again, as if he couldn’t bear to move on.
His hands moved to her abdomen, paused. She knew what he was thinking. “I’m glad you’re happy about it,” she whispered.
“I just want you to be safe.”
“I’m safe with you.”
His mouth moved downward to her breasts. There was a tenderness and urgency in his touch that she sensed at some deeper level. Something was going on within him that she didn’t completely understand, but since it didn’t seem to have anything to do with her, she simply let go. And when he moved lower yet, she moaned in anticipation her body quivering and arching, waiting for the soft, slick penetration of his tongue.
For Jarred it was simply a moment out of time. A place to give and receive pleasure and love his wife in every way. When she wound her arms around his neck and cried out, he found the last vestiges of his own control giving way. A delicious mindlessness beckoned, and when Kelsey’s hands urgently pulled him close, sensuously sliding over his skin, he moaned his own response, letting her guide his length inside her.
Kelsey gripped his hips with tense fingers, seeking to set the rhythm, but Jarred wanted it slower than she did, which nearly drove her crazy with desire. She writhed and pulled, but he moved with studied caution, each thrust pushing a bit deeper, promoting a quivering response within her from the sheer sweet agony of not receiving it as quickly as she wanted.
“Jarred,” she begged.
His answer was a deep groan as his own self-control melted away. The slippery movements of her body were a sweet dance along his flesh. His breathing was labored and so was hers. She matched his thrusts, her body rising and falling in tempo. The delicious excitement seemed to go on and on, but suddenly she was on the brink. With a cry she dragged him to her, as if she could pull him closer, deeper. Jarred’s own gasping release followed in swift, frantic drives that evoked sweet waves within her, leaving her adrift and sated and completely pleasured.
In the aftermath she could feel his racing heartbeat against her own sweat-dampened chest. Kissing his temple, she let her hands move down his muscled body. “I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you, too,” he answered automatically.
“Will we ever get tired of this?”
“I don’t know about you,” he answered lazily, “but I’d say, for me, that’s a no.”
She grinned and he kissed her curving lips. “Well, I’m not tired now,” she pointed out.
Jarred pulled back to look at his lovely wife in the dark. Light shone on her eyes and he could see the laugh lines bracketing them. “Tell you what. If I tell you where to touch me and how, and you follow along, I don’t think I’ll be tired long either.”
“Show me the way, Captain.”
It was the noise that woke her. Something wrong. Something outside, in the dark. Jarred was sound asleep, mentally and physically exhausted, but her mind was still in overdrive. After climbing from their bed, she grabbed a robe and walked toward the window. The hulk of December’s Wish rocked gently against the dock, a darker form against the screen of an indigo sky. Thin moonlight filtered through a soft rain, running a white strip of illumination across the water, a restless silver ribbon.
But there was no movement between the house and the boat. No dark scuttling human form trespassing on their property. Still, it bothered her, and while she wanted to just jump back in bed and throw the covers over her head, she couldn’t forget the night the garage had exploded. Danger was danger. Ignoring it didn’t mean it wasn’t there.
But should she wake Jarred? If anyone needed sleep tonight, it was he. Wrestling with her own fears, Kelsey slipped out of the robe and tossed on a pair of jeans, a turtleneck sweater, and sneakers. Mr. Dog lay sleeping outside the door, and after a quick thump of his tail of acknowledgment, he glanced sharply toward the front of the house and growled low in his throat—the kind of warning noise that lifted the hairs on the back of Kelsey’s neck.
She padded downstairs and the dog hugged her legs as they descended. Men in black cars, she thought vaguely, remembering all the arsenal Connor had had around the perimeter of his living area. Yet, in the end, he’d been the victim of his own addiction. No faceless killers to do the job. Just a carelessness born of need.
She reached the front door. Did she dare open it? Glancing around herself for some kind of weapon, she realized how foolish she was acting. She needed Jarred awake. She needed—
Br-r-r-ring!
She shrieked at the sound of the doorbell. Mr. Dog growled and barked madly, dancing on his toes. For a moment Kelsey didn’t recognize what the sound was.
“Kelsey?” Will’s voice sounded outside.
She clamped her lips closed, furious with herself and with him for scaring her. But suddenly Jarred was on the stairs, buck naked, running at her as if he were about to tackle her.
“It’s Will!” she cried, steeling herself for a flying tackle.
Jarred managed to check himself. He slid toward her and wrapped his arms around her. He was breathing as if he’d run a marathon. “Well, what the hell?” he muttered furiously.
Kelsey started giggling. She covered her mouth to prevent complete, hysterical laughter as she unlocked the door and admitted Will. He gazed at her, then Jarred, then back at her. Under the influence of some personal urgency, he failed to see the humor of the situation, and that made Kelsey laugh harder. She simply sank down on the floor, covered her head with her arms, and laughed until she cried.
“I’ll get some clothes on,” Jarred said dryly. “Thanks for scaring us to death. What time is it?”
“Ten o’clock.”
“Is that all?” Kelsey asked, surprised.
Will nodded. “Sorry. I just had to see you. With Dad and everything. And I’ve got some things to say.”
“I’ll be right back down,” Jarred said. “Wait in the den.”
“I’ll make coffee,” Kelsey offered, swiping tears of hilarity from her cheeks.
Fifteen minutes later the three of them sat in the den. Kelsey took the window seat, glancing outside at December’s Wish. Though the house now felt secure, on some level, she would have liked to still be living on the boat. Maybe she should suggest that to Jarred, she mused. Just a few nights a week, for fun.
“Decaf,” Kelsey said to Will as he poured the dark coffee dow
n his throat. He treated the hot drink as if it were some life-giving elixir.
“Big bro, I need to talk to you,” Will said, his expression bleak. “I’ve made some heavy-duty mistakes, and I feel like I’ve really let you all down. No, don’t leave,” he said to Kelsey, who’d slipped off the window seat, intending to give them some privacy. “I’ve been unfair to you, too, but that’s over now.”
“What happened?” Jarred asked.
He grimaced, looked at the dregs in his coffee cup, then glanced at his brother. “Got anything stronger?”
Silently, Jarred opened a lower cupboard of his credenza and pulled out a bottle of scotch. He poured a healthy dose into Will’s outstretched cup.
“I’ve been under the influence,” he said, gulping a huge swallow, “of Sarah.”
“Ahh.” Jarred shot Kelsey a look.
“And I guess I’ve been working against you because of it,” Will admitted. “I knew Sarah was dealing with Taggart. I overheard them on the phone. She tried to cover up, and I wanted to believe her, so I closed my mind to the obvious. She and I were already involved, and any dealings with Taggart were over by that time anyway. You were in the hospital, and we all thought the Brunswick property was gone, so I let it go. Thought I’d talk to you about it later, when you were better, but there appeared to be no hurry.”
“You tried to blame Kelsey,” Jarred pointed out in a cool voice.
“I thought it was Kelsey at first,” Will said, shooting her a look. “Sorry. Really. I let Sarah influence me. I wanted to believe her. Danielle was lying to me and cheating, and Sarah was there.”
Kelsey didn’t know how to feel. She’d always felt Will’s reluctance to accept her, but to hear it so clearly and fully, to know that she’d been right, was difficult.
“And then Danielle just became unreachable to me. I felt… unhinged,” Will admitted. “I wanted to do something. Break something. Man, I took to running around the track at that grade school down the way from my house until I wanted to collapse. Then Sarah told me about the baby.”
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