Tori could hear the emotion in her mother’s voice, and she felt tears prick her eyes, too.
Finally the women tiptoed toward the door.
“I think I’ll just stay and watch him a while,” Sean said. “I promise I won’t wake him. But if he shows signs of wanting some company, I’ll come and get you.”
Tori smiled as her mother followed her into the hall. When they passed the bathroom, her mom caught sight of the changes. “Isn’t this beautiful!”
She stepped inside and gazed all around, examining the tiles, the floor, the new light. “And your friend did all this?”
Suddenly Tori caught sight of a lone black sock dragging on the floor near the hamper. It wasn’t hers. In her rush to straighten up, take care of Andy and make supper, she’d missed it.
Now her mother walked over to the hamper and stooped down beside it. When she lifted the sock, there was a grin on her face. “You can’t tell me this is one of yours. Your feet are a lot smaller.”
“No. No, it’s not one of mine. I’ve been seeing someone.”
“It must be serious if he’s leaving his socks.” When Sylvia analyzed Tori’s expression, her own became serious. “You didn’t tell me anything about it.”
“Probably for the same reason you didn’t tell me about Sean. I’m not certain about anything.”
“Have you known him long?”
“I met Jake when I was in high school. He took me to my prom, remember?”
Sylvia nodded. “Nina Galeno’s brother.”
“That’s right. Our lives crossed again about two months ago. He’s the one who did the tile work.”
“And already there are socks on your floor? You can’t tell me you know a man in that amount of time.”
“I know Jake. As soon as you meet him, you realize there aren’t many men like him. He’s honorable and strong.”
“But?”
“But his life’s unsettled right now and he doesn’t have a high opinion of marriage.”
“You haven’t had a high opinion of marriage, either. That’s my fault.”
“No. It’s my father’s fault and Dave’s fault.”
After a long pause, her mom asked, “What do you think of Sean?”
“I just met him.”
“I know. But what’s your first impression?”
Tori took her mother’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “He seems very nice. Very caring. Very honest. Ask me before you leave and I’ll give you a better assessment.”
“When do I get to meet this…Jake?”
“Tonight. I asked him to come over for dinner, but he thought the three of us should have this time alone. He’ll be here around eight.”
Sunday, the day of Andy’s christening, dawned bright with a hint of winter in the air. Jake enjoyed the ceremony, the solemnity and the celebration afterward more than he’d enjoyed anything in a long while. During the week before Sylvia Phillips had arrived, he’d stayed over every night at Tori’s and they had gotten little sleep. Since her mother had come to town, he hadn’t spent much time alone with Tori. He missed her in more than a physical way.
The party at Tori’s house after the christening had been noisy and crowded. But eventually Nina, Charlie, Jake’s mom and the boys had left. For the past few days, Jake had felt as if he’d gotten to know Sylvia and Sean. He liked them both. But he sensed a slight wariness whenever they looked at him, and he wondered what Tori had told them about their relationship.
As Jake watched Sylvia rocking Andy, tickling his chin, playing with his baby fingers, she glanced at him and their gazes locked. What was she thinking? That her daughter was foolish to begin an affair that had nowhere to go?
A knife twisted in Jake’s gut when he thought about ending it. Whenever he held Tori in his arms, he felt a peace he hadn’t experienced since Marion’s death. His desire for Tori hadn’t eased since they’d had sex. It had grown stronger. Every time she was around, the strength of his desire amazed him. But he also felt cornered by it. He didn’t want to need her any more than she wanted to need him. He just wanted to walk away from this when it was over with his psyche still intact.
And it would be over, at some point. Tori would want more than pleasure a few nights a week. Then he’d walk away. Commitment took too much, demanded too much, destroyed too much.
“If you gentlemen don’t mind,” Tori said with a smile, “Mom and I are going to give Andy a bath.”
“They’re more fun when they start splashing,” Sean informed her.
“Tori’s already bought toys for the bathtub for when that day comes,” Jake said with a chuckle.
As the two women went down the hall, Sean slid to the edge of the sofa and leaned closer to Jake. In a lowered voice he asked, “Are you serious about Tori?”
“That depends on what you mean by serious,” Jake answered casually, suspecting Sylvia and Sean had discussed this subject often the past few days.
Instead of jumping on him because he didn’t give a straight answer, Sean frowned. “I know what Tori’s father put her mom through. Tori saw it all. She saw her mother find another woman’s earring in the car. She saw Sylvia take Eric back when he apologized time after time. She saw her mom go into a deep depression when he left. It got so bad Tori finally went to one of her neighbors for help—her mom hadn’t gotten out of bed for days, and she thought Sylvia was going to die.”
“Tori never told me that,” Jake admitted.
“From what Sylvia says, Tori doesn’t give much away. From what I gathered, that husband of hers really did a number on her, too. But Sylvia says you’d never know it, because Tori held her head high through the whole thing.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I’m telling you this because I’m going to marry Sylvia, and I’m going to be Tori’s stepfather. She’ll be part of my family, and I take care of my own. If you’re not serious, I don’t want you leading her on. Just thought we’d cover the bases now.”
Sean Brady had covered the bases, all right. Jake had told himself over and over again he should get out of Tori’s life before he hurt her. She’d made it obvious she didn’t want to depend on him. She’d made it obvious she didn’t want to need him. But in her bed in the black of night, they somehow let go of defenses, tore down walls and united in a way he’d never united with a woman before.
Still, the black of night wasn’t going to be enough for Tori. Someday soon, probably after Andy’s adoption was finalized, she’d turn to someone like Peter Emerson. And Jake would move on to another place…to another woman, who didn’t care about tomorrow any more than he did.
Chapter Eleven
Tori absolutely sparkled, Jake thought, as he stood beside a large framed canvas, watching her across the expanse of her gallery. She was wearing an off-the-shoulder, jewel-toned dress that glittered with beads embroidered in an intricate design. The hem fell just above her knees, and the dress was form-fitting enough for him to see the curves he’d caressed…curves he’d stroked…curves that had him as hot as blazes here in the midst of an art show. Her swingy, glittering earrings had to be diamonds. Every once in a while he glimpsed one when her hair swayed. She was talking to her mother, gesturing toward one of Peter Emerson’s paintings, as Sean looked on.
Jake smiled. The Irishman was clearly bored. Since Sean hadn’t brought along anything formal, he’d gone out and bought a Western shirt and sprung for a bolo tie.
Jake realized his own shirt collar was feeling tight. It had been a while since he’d worn a suit.
When Emerson walked up to Tori and touched her elbow, Jake’s teeth clenched. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Why the frown?” Phil Trujillo asked.
“I think I tied my tie too tight,” Jake answered with an expression that said his frown was none of Trujillo’s business.
Phil looked at Tori and Emerson. “Mm-hm. I saw you with Tori Phillips earlier. You look good together.”
Although annoyance niggled at Ja
ke, his tone was calm. “What are you doing here? Art shows aren’t exactly your gig.”
“Maybe I’m having my consciousness raised.”
At that Jake chuckled. “Sure. Now tell me something I’ll believe.”
Trujillo gave a shrug. “Just checking things out. I have a composite sketch I want to show Ms. Phillips.”
“You’ve ID’d a suspect?”
“Nope. Mrs. Cranshaw at the bakery told me she saw a guy hanging around the parking lot a couple of times. So I set her up with a sketch artist.” He pulled a folded sheet of paper from an inside pocket and showed it to Jake.
“I’ve never seen him before.”
Trujillo tucked the sketch back into his pocket. “I’ll wait till this is all over, maybe bring the sketch by in the morning. I wouldn’t want to throw a wrench into Ms. Phillips’s evening.”
“If you’re going to hang around, you must have a reason.”
“You never know where our suspect will turn up. If he has balls, or no sense, he might think this show is a good way to look around the place firsthand.”
“You think he’s still in the area?”
“There’s no way of knowing. Just to be on the safe side, I thought I’d cover this tonight.”
The hum of voices and clink of glasses were background noises as Jake said, “I didn’t appreciate Chief Garcia’s visit or the fact that you told him where he could find me.”
Trujillo grinned and shrugged. “How do you know I told him? The chief has his ways of finding out what he wants to know. He likes your record.”
“Lay off, Phil.”
“If you say so.”
The quick reply made Jake cast a sideways glance at the detective. He knew that Phil could bluff with the best of them.
When Phil moved away, Sean wandered over to Jake. He jerked a thumb back at the six-foot-high canvas where Sylvia was standing. “You get that stuff?”
Jake slipped his hand into his pocket. His fingers played with the key Tori had given him to the back door of the gallery. He’d picked up, then delivered a few easels she’d purchased to display Emerson’s paintings. Now he couldn’t suppress a smile at Sean’s question. “I probably get it as much as you do. Personally, I like art that’s more realistic.”
“Exactly. I don’t want to have to figure out whether it’s a horse or a house or a tree. But Sylvia seems to enjoy all this as much as Tori.” He pointed to one of Emerson’s smaller paintings. “I might buy her that as a wedding gift.”
Tori hadn’t mentioned that anything had been finalized between her mother and Sean Brady. “Have you set a date?”
“It’s a secret,” Sean admitted, his eyes twinkling. “We’re going to announce it officially at Christmas. I think we’ve convinced Tori to fly out with Andy. Are you going to come along?”
Christmas was almost two months away. Jake didn’t know where he and Tori would be by then. “I’ll check my schedule,” he said diplomatically. “But whether I’m there or not, I wish you and Mrs. Phillips all the best.”
Tori was speaking to a group of three couples. She had a glass of champagne in her hand, but Jake didn’t think she’d taken a sip all evening. He suspected it was more for show than anything else. She was celebrating Peter Emerson’s success and wanted to let him and everyone else know it. Emerson, on the other hand, had downed at least three glasses and was thoroughly enjoying himself, explaining the intimate details of his work to a prospective buyer.
As the couples drifted away from Tori, she was finally standing alone for the first time all evening.
Sean’s gaze had followed Jake’s. “I’m going to see if Sylvia wants another glass of champagne.”
Jake had missed Tori the past five days. Most of her time had been taken up by her mom and Sean. Jake didn’t begrudge her any of that. The truth was, he’d felt out of place as Sean snoozed on the sofa in the evenings while Sylvia and Tori bathed and fed Andy. Sylvia couldn’t seem to hold him enough or coo to him enough or rock him enough. Jake understood that, too. But he’d felt as if he didn’t have any place there.
He didn’t. He wasn’t Andy’s father.
Another man approached Tori. Tall and loose-limbed, he appeared to be in his middle forties. He seemed to know her, and they had a conversation that lasted almost five minutes. She was smiling, animated, and even blushed a little.
Jake felt himself tense. Suddenly he realized he wasn’t jealous of Peter Emerson or of the man talking to Tori now. After all, Jake was the one sleeping with her. He was the one who knew she liked long, deep kisses. He was the one who knew what made her sigh or moan with pleasure. What he felt when he saw Emerson, or any other man, with her was a deep abiding sadness that she didn’t belong to him, wouldn’t belong to him, because he couldn’t tell her he’d stay.
Do you really want to be a partner in a lodge in Crested Butte? a reasonable voice inside him asked.
On the nights when he stayed with Tori, when he lost himself in her, when her touches and her welcoming body gave him release that rocked his world, he thought of Crested Butte, a more isolated life and peace of mind he couldn’t seem to find anywhere. He needed Tori on a level beyond the physical. Yet that need disturbed him, unsettled him, trapped him. The same way his father had felt trapped?
Couldn’t be. He and Tori didn’t have a commitment to each other. They didn’t have any plans for the future.
But they had a bond, one Jake couldn’t deny. It went beyond the passion, beyond Andy’s birth and his surgery. It was a bond Jake didn’t understand.
He’d had a bond with Marion. Maybe he’d never been able to admit it before. They’d had a professional relationship and a friendship. He’d been her superior, her teacher, her mentor. He’d never acted on the attraction he’d felt for her, and she’d never admitted that she’d come to him to ask for his advice more than necessary.
He’d been attracted to her, he’d cared for her, and he’d sent her to her death.
He had to resolve his guilt. He had to get past the recriminations. He had to get over what had happened before he could consider anything more permanent with Tori than going to bed with her tonight and waking up beside her in the morning.
As if Tori could sense his turmoil, she looked his way. Their gazes locked, and he started moving toward her. She finished her conversation and met him in the middle of the gallery, stopping by a table laden with hors d’oeuvres.
“Have you eaten yet tonight?” he asked her.
“I haven’t been hungry. Too much to do, too many people to talk to. That was a reporter who wants to interview Peter.”
“You, too?”
She nodded. “He’s coming tomorrow morning around ten.”
“What time is your mom leaving?”
“Around 6 a.m. We’ll have to say our goodbyes tonight.”
“Have you checked in with Nina?” Since Loretta was involved in this show as much as Tori, his sister had offered to baby-sit Andy.
“About half an hour ago. Andy had his bottle at seven and has been sleeping ever since.”
Jake knew Tori had come to the gallery around four to help get the evening set up and make sure everything was just as it should be. “I’ve missed you,” he said honestly.
A patron brushed by Tori and she almost spilled her champagne. The gallery was more crowded than it had been all evening. “I’ve missed you, too,” Tori confessed.
Impulsively, Jake took her hand. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
He tugged her toward the back of the gallery. “We’re going to steal a few moments alone. Any objections?”
Her aquamarine eyes sparked with the same need that he felt. “Not at all.”
After Jake tugged Tori into the storage room, they laughed like a couple of kids who had just escaped a truant officer. Tori set her champagne glass on a stack of boxes. Then Jake took her into his arms and their laughter dwindled away.
“It’s been too long,” he said. “I’m going to mes
s up your lipstick.”
“I don’t care,” she returned recklessly, and he could see that she really had missed him, too. When their lips met, the storage room became their world. Art patrons, Peter Emerson, champagne and hors d’oeuvres were forgotten as their need consumed them both. Jake’s hands roamed all over her, reveled in the smooth texture of her skin. He was frustrated by material and beads. When her hand slid under his jacket, he wanted to undress her right then and there.
“How long do you think we have until someone comes looking for us?” he asked, half joking, half serious.
“About two minutes.” Her smile said she regretted it as much as he did.
“That long?” he teased. “I don’t think I can work wonders in two minutes.”
Laughing, she pressed tighter against him. “I think you’re ready to try.”
Groaning, he nipped her neck. “Better watch it, or everyone will know what we’ve been doing out here.”
“Counting my inventory.”
“Counting the minutes until I can take you to bed again.”
“You’ll stay tonight?”
“I’ll stay.” Yes, tonight. Maybe tomorrow night. He wouldn’t think beyond that.
The following afternoon, Tori carefully packaged the painting that Sean wanted to buy for her mother. Strains of Native American flute instrumentals played in the background. Sean had confided the artwork was going to be his wedding present to Sylvia and then had waited for Tori’s reaction. To her surprise, after only a few days of knowing Sean, she’d taken the news easily. She really liked the man. He seemed to add excitement and caring and tenderness to her mother’s life. The same elements Jake could add to hers. For the past week, thoughts of a wedding band on her finger again hadn’t seemed so extraordinary.
A little gurgle came from Andy as he sat in his car seat on the counter where she was working. He was such a contented baby now. She was sure that his little smiles weren’t accidents, that he actually recognized her voice, her touch. Was that possible at seven weeks?
“When you’re finished with that, I’ll take it to the post office for you,” Loretta offered as she carried artwork from the storage area into the gallery. They had sold so many of Peter’s paintings that they had to rearrange them now and fill the spaces with other artists’ work.
Their Baby Bond Page 15