I'll Be There Part 20

"Wow. That was so good." Jenny said.

Cord and Jenny had managed to polish off half a pot of excellent chicken noodle soup and a sleeve of saltine crackers. He lifted a gla.s.s of sweet iced tea to his lips. "There's a nice claw foot tub upstairs, if you're inclined."

"Sounds good. Are you coming up?"

Was that an invitation? He looked away and concentrated on finis.h.i.+ng his tea, sure he was reading things into her words that weren't there because he was still feeling the effects of their kiss, hours after it had happened. "You go ahead. I'll be up in a bit."

Jenny smiled. "You're going to do the dishes even though Miss Estelee said not to."

"Busted."

She stood, but stopped when she could have walked past him. She squeezed his shoulder, and he nearly came unglued-almost grasped her wrist and dragged her down into his lap so they could take up where they'd left off earlier.

"Thanks."

He didn't know what he'd been expecting her to say, but it wasn't that. "For what?"

"For staying with me."

He looked up into her eyes and understood how people got lost in emotion. Her gaze was so open and trusting as it settled on him. He knew better than to get involved with a subject. Trouble was that try as he might, he couldn't see her as anything other than a strong, beautiful, s.e.xy woman that he wanted. d.a.m.n it, she was deep under his skin.

"Good night," he said and hoped that his implied message was getting across to her that they wouldn't see each other until the morning. But Jenny just smiled that smile that did wild things to his heart rate, then trailed her hand along his shoulder and went up the stairs.

Cord raked a hand through his hair, visions of Jenny up there in the bathroom, taking her clothes off, sliding into a bath filled with warm, steamy water... stroking her body with a washcloth the way he'd like to stroke her body with his hands. He shook his head and stood, taking the dishes from the table to the sink. How the h.e.l.l was he going to get through the night with Jenny just down the hall?

"Boss's gonna be p.i.s.sed but good when he hears we been caught, and right here in Angel Ridge of all places."

"That's the least of our worries now. We're facin' charges. I didn't bargain for goin' back to prison."

"I won't. I'll cut me a deal."

"Shut up!" Jackson said softly, silencing his men. "Trespa.s.sing will be like a pesky gnat on a judge's busy docket. The charges'll be dismissed, if it even gets that far. Besides that, the boss has got connections in this town. So just keep your mouths shut, or I'll see to it that you'll wish you had."

The dirty men hunched over their midsections, trying to make themselves smaller, if that was possible.

"There are more coming in behind us. h.e.l.l, it's likely they're already here. I should've waited for backup, but I never figured the sheriff here to be anything to contend with. I won't make that mistake twice."

"We need to get out of this town."

"You say somethin', Roy?" Jackson asked.

"We should have been able to take the woman on the mountain, but didn't. We sure should've been able to take her from that farm, but couldn't. It's this town. She won't be taken here or anywhere near it."

"Aw, shut up with the superst.i.tion already, Roy. We heard it all. Don't mean nothin'," one of the men said.

"Mark my words. I've lived around here long enough to know that things happen that can't be explained."

"Backwoods rednecks," Jackson grumbled. "The only problem I got is bein' saddled with all you backwoods rednecks. Now, shut up. I don't want to hear anything else from any of you."

The followers settled in their corners of the cell and drifted off to sleep. But Jackson stayed awake, trying to put Roy's warnings out of his head while he plotted their next move.

Upstairs, a sliver of light spilled into the dark hallway from the bottom of the closed bathroom door. Some tantalizing scent from Jenny's bath water teased his nose and incited wild images to flicker across the screen of his mind like an X-rated movie. He shook his head and opened a door, then leaned against its frame, eyes squeezed shut, willing the images to fade.

He sighed and pushed away without bothering with the light. He had a long, sleepless night ahead of him, but first, he stripped to his boxers and went over to open the window. The shock of cold hit him like a physical blow. Unfortunately, it did little to cool the heat in his blood.

He moved toward the bed knowing he was going to spend a restless night in it. It was an old-fas.h.i.+oned double, too small for him. He pulled back the covers and lay down. The old frame creaked from lack of use as he slid in and pulled the quilt up to his waist. He put a hand under his head and stared at the patterns the tall barren trees outside the window made on the wood plank ceiling. The old house creaked and groaned like it was alive, talking to the wind and snow swirling around the house, rattling the century-old windows.

How had this happened? How had he gotten himself this deep in a situation he'd sworn never to find himself in again? He'd been living in a clearing on a remote mountain for years, his demons too strong for him to subject anyone other than himself to their torture. And now, through a set of events he hadn't asked for or been able to control, he had Jenny to protect.

Sure, he'd guarded people before in his work with the military and the bureau, so he could default to that mindset easily enough. Detach and do the work. What he couldn't explain as easily was why he hadn't been able to do that with Jenny, and even more troubling were these feelings for Jenny that had him tangled up in knots.

He squeezed his eyes shut and willed his mind to go blank, but then he heard the door to the bathroom open, the squeak of the wood floors as Jenny padded down the hall. He held his breath, imagining her stopping at his closed door, weighing whether she'd open it and come in, walk over to him wearing nothing but a towel, moonlight s.h.i.+mmering across her damp skin. He broke out in a sweat despite the coolness of the room. Then he heard her continue down the hall, another door open and close, and then the house settled back into its night sounds. He wondered if she'd chosen the room next to his or the one across the hall- "Stop it!" he grumbled and turned onto his side. He punched the pillow and settled his head into the indention. Half an hour or three later, he didn't know how long he'd lain there, but he felt every spring in the mattress pressing against him. He rolled to his other side to relieve the pressure, and she was there. Standing beside his bed like an apparition, so close he could reach out and touch her.

He had to be dreaming, but when he blinked, she was still there, wearing some oversized pale cotton nightgown, sleeveless and ruffled at the square neck and hem, which barely reached her knees. The style belonged to someone much older, but on Jenny it was s.e.xy as h.e.l.l with the moonlight from the window backlighting her. He held his breath, equally afraid she was real or a dream.

She tugged at the crumpled blanket as she eased in beside him. The bed creaked and dipped. When she tangled her cold, bare legs with his, he knew this wasn't a dream. His arm closed around her, pressing her close to his chest as he pulled the quilt up around them.

"You're freezing," he whispered.

She nodded, her eyes, huge and open, locked on his. He brushed her long, blonde hair back over her shoulder. Her cold hands felt like ice on his waist and then his back.

"It's cold in my room," she explained. "I couldn't sleep."

He couldn't sleep either, but then, he never slept.

"You shouldn't be here," he said as he caressed warmth into her back and arms.

"I know. I told myself that, too, but then..."

He sucked in a breath as she trailed a hand around his waist and up his chest to his neck. His brain was quickly detaching from the rest of his body. She eased her foot around his ankle and he bent his knee. Jenny sighed and arched her back as she sank her hand into his hair and cupped the back of his head.

"Then it all became really clear to me."

He slid his hand over her hip, down her thigh to the back of her knee, easing it up over his to his hip.

"It came to me that we're in this s.p.a.ce-this raw s.p.a.ce where nothing exists. I'm not lost, but not found. I'm not the person I was, or the one I'm going to be. It's like the stone in your necklace."

She held the pendant between them, caressing the center stone with her thumb. "It's this place in the middle that the elements carved out. Fire refines, water cleanses, wind brings change, and the earth anchors and nurtures life. It's a journey getting from one to the other. The place in the middle is where all's stripped away. Life begins there, strong, safe and protected in the niche the elements carve out. That's us, Cord. We're in this s.p.a.ce between. Nothing else matters. Together, we're safe and protected here."

"Jenny-"

She held the pendant up. "You knew it when you made this all those years ago, but it took this set of circ.u.mstances for you, for us, to really understand what it means."

She pressed her lips to his, soft and warm, then broke the contact. "You feel it, too," her breath was like the wind against his mouth, changing him.

"That's why the feelings between us are so strong, so intense."

The fire sweeping through his body could only be quenched by Jenny. And her body was like the earth, anchoring him.

"We can't deny it."

She held the pendant between them as he kissed her, its form imprinting her palm like she would forever be imprinted on his heart, his mind, his body, his soul. Their lovemaking filled all the empty s.p.a.ces in every aspect of his being, making Cord whole for the first time in his life.

Chapter 17.

Jenny woke to gray light filtering into the room and Cord's arm heavy and real draped across her waist. She smiled and eased her hand from his wrist to his elbow and back again. He pulled her back, tight against him, nuzzling a spot at the base of her neck and then pressed his lips to her skin causing a s.h.i.+ver from that spot all the way down her spine.

"Mmm... Good morning."

His only response was a rumble deep in his throat that vibrated against the curve of her neck. She turned and looked up into his face hovering above hers. His silky black hair hung forward, and she brushed it back with both hands. She so loved the feel of it. She loved the feel of his beard, too, but couldn't help wondering how he'd look without it.

"Good morning."

The soft look in his eyes, as his gaze caressed her face, stole her breath.

"You're here." He kissed her, then caressed her face. "I thought maybe it was a dream."

She touched his face, his beard, the scars. "I don't think I could have dreamed anything this amazing." She continued to trace the lines of his face. "You're so handsome."

He grasped her wrist and pressed his lips to the underside of it.

"And s.e.xy."

"It's okay, you know," he said.

"What?"

"I don't need pretty words. I know what I look like."

Time to get this man refocused. "I don't know how." She trailed a slow finger along his jaw. "How long have you been hiding behind this beard?"

"Living alone, I don't worry much about what I look like."

"I have a confession."

"Mmm..." he trailed a hand over her hip, down her thigh to her knee. "Sounds intriguing."

"I wonder how much more handsome you'd be if your beautiful face wasn't hidden." She pressed her lips to his cheek, "How it would feel to kiss your face instead of the beard."

He dipped his head to leisurely explore the area around her ear. After several heart-stopping moments pa.s.sed, he whispered, "Would you..." His lips moved, very slowly, from her ear to the indention at the base of her neck.

Jenny swallowed hard. "Would I?"

He leaned back and looked into her eyes again. "Would you like to shave it?"

That surprised her. "You'd let me?"

He trailed the backs of his fingers across her cheek, focused on her lips, then raised his gaze to hers. "I'd do anything for you."

Such strong emotion radiated from his dark eyes, tears filled hers. She felt it, too, but knew they couldn't share feelings. They couldn't say the words. Her situation was too tenuous, too transient.

He kissed the corners of her eyes, catching the tears before they could fall. She felt so happy, so... new. Like she'd been reborn. Letting her shave his beard, to her, would be like an outward sign of their transformation. Like coming out of darkness into the light.

She pressed against his shoulders so she could sit up and slide out of the bed. She picked up her nightgown and put it on.

"Is that one of Miss Estelee's nightgowns?"

"Yes." She bent and retrieved his boxers, then looked back at Cord. Words along with coherent thought deserted her. He lay there in the bed they'd shared, propped up on a forearm, leg bent with the sheet just covering his hips. Lord, he was every fantasy she would ever have for the rest of her life.

"Come back to bed," he invited, "and let me take that off. You look much better without it."

Jenny looked down at the old-fas.h.i.+oned white cotton gown and the red boxers she held in her hands. She tossed them to him, and finding her words said, "I'll be waiting in the bathroom, with a razor."

Somehow, she managed to turn on weakened knees and walk out of his room, down the hall, and into bathroom. She quickly relieved herself, then washed at the sink. The woman looking back at her from the mirror hardly resembled the woman she'd been yesterday. Her hair was tousled, her lips swollen and red. Everything about her seemed softer. Was this what love did? Did it transform everything about a person into something new and better?

A soft knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. She opened it to find Cord standing there in his blue jeans and nothing else. He came in, looped an arm around her waist and lifted her off her feet. When he'd finished kissing her, he set her in the hall and shut the door. A few short minutes later, she heard water running, and then he opened the door and pulled her in, closing it behind her.

He held up a razor and a can of shaving cream. "Who knew Miss Estelee would have shaving cream in the medicine cabinet up here."

Taking the items and pus.h.i.+ng him back to the closed toilet seat, Jenny said, "She takes in boarders from time to time since there's no hotel in town. Someone must have left it behind."

Cord sat. "Lucky me." He pulled her into his lap, facing him.

"Good thing it's a small bathroom." She turned on the warm water and put a towel around his shoulders. Then, she shook the can and squirted a big puff of foam into her palm. "Are you sure about this?"

He eased his hands over her hips to her thighs and squeezed. "No, but I sure am enjoying the process."

Jenny kissed him and pushed his hair back, soothing the cream onto his cheeks and neck in circular motions. A pleasing, spicy scent filled the air around them. She moistened the razor. Eyes that had once been veiled and empty only yesterday, now looked at her filled with trust as she took the first stroke. Dark, creamy skin appeared beneath the razor as she moved from his ear to his chin. She couldn't help touching what she revealed with every stroke and smiling her pleasure.

When she moved to his other cheek and began uncovering the scars, his eyes clouded. She touched the raised pink lines with the backs of her fingers, then turned to rinse the razor. He watched her carefully, but she kept shaving his cheek, revealing more scars as she progressed. The pain he must have endured. "Where were you when it happened?"

"An office building in Nashville."

That surprised her. That he'd been in Nashville. She wondered how long ago it had been. If she had been there, too. She moved to his neck, careful to stop if he spoke. She revealed another strip of skin.

"You were a policeman?"

"Of sorts."