Her eyes shot open. A dark shape loomed over her. Wind and rain blew in through the window next to her bed and whipped the curtains against the wall. He eased his hand from her mouth and reached out to close the window just as a boom of thunder shook the house.
Rubber-limbed from the fright he’d given her, she struggled to sit up. “Get out!”
“Lower your voice before Medea shows up with her handmaiden.”
“Don’t you dare say anything bad about either one of them.”
“They’d eat their own children for dinner.”
This was too cruel. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? “What are you doing here?”
He planted his hands on his hips and scowled down at her. “I came to kidnap you, but it’s wet and cold out there, so I’ll have to do it some other time.”
He lowered himself onto the straight chair that sat at the sewing machine next to her bed. Beads of water glistened in his hair and on his nylon parka. As another flash of lightning lit the room, she saw that he was still just as unshaven and haggard-looking as he’d been this afternoon.
“You planned to kidnap me?”
“You don’t seriously think I’m going to let you stay here much longer with these crazy women, do you?”
“It’s none of your business what I do.”
He ignored that. “I had to talk to you without those vampires listening in. For one thing, you need to stay away from town for the next few days. A couple of reporters have shown up anxious to check out that tabloid article.”
So that was why he’d shown up tonight. Not to bring her a declaration of undying love, but a warning about the press. She struggled to swallow her disappointment.
“They’re a bunch of bloodsuckers,” he growled.
She sat higher in the pillows and met his gaze straight on. “Don’t do anything to Jodie.”
“Fat chance.”
“I mean it.”
He glared at her, and a flash of lightning picked out the hard glitter of her eyes. “You know damn well she’s the one who sold that story to the tabloid.”
“The damage is done, and there’s nothing more she can do, so what’s the point?” She pulled the quilt to her chin. “It’d be like squashing an ant. She’s pitiful, and I want you to leave her alone.”
“It’s not in my nature to let somebody hit me without hitting them back.”
She stiffened. “I know.”
“All right.” He sighed. “I’ll leave her alone. I guess we don’t have to worry too much about it anyway. Kevin held a press conference this evening, and he says he’s holding another one tomorrow for the next batch of reporters who show up. Believe it or not, he’s pretty much defused the whole thing.”
“Kevin?”
“Your knight in shining armor.” She didn’t miss the bite of sarcasm in his tone. “I walked into the Mountaineer to get a beer and found him holding court with a bunch of reporters. He told them that the story was true.”
“What?”
“But only up to a point. He said the two of us had been dating for months before that fateful night. According to him, the birthday thing was a surprise you’d arranged. Middle-age kinkiness, I believe he called it. I’ve got to say, the kid was pretty convincing. By the time he was done, even I believed that’s the way it happened.”
“I told you he was a sweetie.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, your sweetie also made it clear that the only reason you and I started to date was because he’d just dumped you, and you were so upset about it he passed you on to me as a consolation prize.”
“That jerk.”
“My sentiments exactly.”
Despite his words, he didn’t sound all that upset with Kevin. He rose and pushed the chair aside. She stiffened as he sat on the edge of the bed.
“Come on home, sweetheart. You know I’m sorry about what happened before, don’t you?”He closed his hand over her arm, where it lay beneath the covers. “I should have called Brian as soon as my feelings toward you changed, but I guess I wasn’t ready to face what was happening. We can work it out. We just need to be alone for a while to do it.”
He was breaking her heart. “There’s nothing to work out.”
“There’s the fact that we’re married, and we have a baby coming. Be reasonable, Jane. We just need a little time.”
She hardened herself against the frailty inside her that made her want to agree. She refused to be another weak-willed woman victimized by her emotions. “My home is in Chicago.”
“Don’t say that.” Once again, the edge of anger was back in his voice. “You’ve got a perfectly good home on the other side of this mountain.”
“That place is yours, not mine.”
“That’s not so.”
A rap sounded on the door, startling them both. Cal shot up from the edge of the bed.
“Jane?”Lynn called out. “Jane, I heard something. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“I heard voices. Do you have a man in there?”
“Yes.”
“Why’d you have to go and tell her that?” Cal hissed.
“Do you want him there?” Lynn asked.
Jane fought the tide of misery rising in her chest. “No.”
There was a long pause. “All right, then. Come in my room. You can sleep with me.”
Jane pushed back the covers.
Cal caught her arm. “Don’t do this, Jane. We need to talk.”
“The time’s past for talking. I’m going back to Chicago tomorrow.”
“You can’t do that! I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I have things to tell you.”
“Go tell them to somebody who cares.” She jerked free and rushed from the room.
Jane was going to bolt, and Cal couldn’t let it happen. Not in a million years. He loved her!
He’d learned from his father that the women got up early, so he arrived at Heartache Mountain right at dawn. He hadn’t slept at all since he’d climbed back out into the rain from Jane’s bedroom window last night. Now that it was too late, he saw the mistake in his strategy.
He should have told her he loved her the minute he came into her room, while he still had his hand over her mouth. Instead, he’d gone on about kidnaping and reporters, jabbering away instead of getting to the heart of the matter, the only part of what he had to say that meant anything. Maybe he’d been ashamed that it had taken him so long to figure out what should have been obvious to him for a long time.
The reality of his feelings had hit him like a lightning bolt. Yesterday afternoon he’d been struck by the truth as he’d driven hell-for-leather off the mountain right after he’d made a fool of himself by yelling out that he’d stay married. The expression on her face-the look of absolute contempt-had devastated him. Her good opinion meant more to him than any sportswriter’s. She was everything to him.
Now he understood that loving her wasn’t a new feeling, only his acceptance was new. Looking back, he figured he’d probably fallen in love with her when he’d tackled her in Annie’s backyard that day he’d found out how old she was.
More than anything in his life, he knew he couldn’t let this marriage break up. As much as the idea of ending his career scared him, it didn’t scare him half as much as losing her. That meant he had to get her to listen to him, but first, he had to make certain she stayed put.
The front door of Annie’s house was locked with the new dead bolt he’d installed not two weeks earlier. He figured there wasn’t a chance in hell they’d open it for him, so he kicked it in and made his way to the kitchen.
Jane stood at the sink in her Goofy nightshirt with her hair all rumpled and her mouth open in an oval of surprise. As she took in his appearance, her eyes widened with alarm.
He’d caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror as he’d come through the living room, and he wasn’t surprised by her reaction. With his outlaw’s stubble, red eyes, and trigger-happy temper, he looked like the meanest hombre this side of the Pecos. Which was just fine with him. Let all of them know right from the beginning that he meant business.