The Road Home Read online

  “For what exactly?”

  “You’ll see.” When he reached for her hand, she pulled it back.

  “I’m not big on surprises,” she said.

  And she wasn’t big on touching, either. He wondered if he could change both.

  He paid for the groceries, loaded them and Melissa back into his truck and drove through town. He went past the second and then the last stoplight, and then went past the turn to get onto the main highway.

  And he kept going, heading directly toward the still green and beautiful rolling hills.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I promised you dinner.”

  She gazed at the wide-open scenery, but said nothing. As far as the eye could see there was nothing around but gentle hills lined with occasional fencing, holding in horses and cattle. They turned onto a dirt road that rose and twisted like the gnarled oak trees they’d passed.

  And then they finally came to a small lake. Jason had been born and bred in this area, and though he’d spent the past twelve years away, he still had fond memories here. Once upon a time while still in high school, he’d come here to make out. Not that he had any hopes for that tonight.

  Melissa watched him guardedly. “What’s here?”

  “A picnic.” He came around to help her down from the truck, then grabbed a blanket and the bag of food.

  She looked at the blanket, and then at him. “You’re not going to need that.”

  He laughed. “We’re going to eat on it.”

  “That’s all we’re doing on it.”

  “Right. No wild animal sex. I remember.”

  They sat on the blanket at the water’s edge. Melissa just as far from him as she could get. In her neat black trousers and crisp white blouse, surrounded by the brilliant blue of the calm water and the wild green of the hills lining the lake, she looked beautiful. Her face was shaded by the three oak trees they sat beneath, and her dark short hair, cut in neat little layers that flipped up so adorably they made his fingers itch to touch them, lifted lightly in the breeze.

  He poured the wine and took out the food, which they ate while she asked him about his work. “I should tell you, I’m a novelist,” he said, smiling at her surprise. “At the moment I’m trying my hand at a psychological thriller.”

  She set down her piece of chicken and licked her fingers, the little sucking sound her mouth made being the most erotic he’d ever heard. “What does a laid-back, easygoing guy like you know about terror?”

  The memory of his car accident flickered through him: fierce rain, a wild storm, slippery roads, a damn deer in the way, brakes not responding… The moment of stark horror as his car careened out of control toward the huge tree at the end of his driveway. Then being dragged from the wreckage by a wet, trembling Rose…and waking up days later in the hospital.

  What did he know of terror? Plenty. But he gave her an easy smile. “It’s fiction, Mel.”

  She laughed at herself, and he loved the sound of her amusement, getting the feeling that she didn’t do it very often.

  “What does your family think of what you do?” she asked.

  “My mom and dad are gone, and my brothers are in the army. They’re a little mystified by the fact I’d rather use a pencil than a gun, but they’re proud.” He brought out the cookies. “What about you? Where’s your family?” He hated himself for asking when he already knew.

  She busied herself cleaning up her trash. “I grew up in foster homes. It was okay,” she said quickly, probably used to being defensive about that.

  “And your real parents?”

  “I don’t know my father.” She shrugged. “And my mother…she’s around. That’s why I was never put up for adoption. The social workers kept hoping my mother would eventually take me back. Just so happens she didn’t get around to wanting to do it until I was already grown.”

  He handed her a cookie. “In the name of being bad.” Their fingers brushed, and she pulled away.

  “Why do you do that?” he asked quietly. “Shy away from my touch?”

  “I don’t know you very well.”

  “And if you did…would that change? You not liking to be touched?”

  She looked away. “I’m not much of a people person. I’d have figured if you’d learned anything about me in the past few days, it’d have been that.”

  “Mel…”

  He waited until she looked at him and gave her a slow smile meant to charm. He handed her another cookie. “Why did you think I came back with that damn parrot?”

  She sighed. “I knew there was nothing wrong with that parrot. I thought you came back with it simply to—” She let out a little laugh and sipped her wine.

  “To…?”

  “To see me.”

  “I did.” And that was the truth. He didn’t want this to be just for Rose anymore. He wanted to do it for himself. He wanted to get to know her because she was the real deal. A real woman, who was into her job, who really cared about what she was doing with her life.

  And then there was something else. Unlike everyone else he’d come across in the past six months, she hadn’t mentioned the scar rolling down the right side of his face. There’d been so many questions, from both strangers and friends, all of which drove him nuts.

  But not from Melissa.

  Bottom line, she threw him off-kilter. More than his looming deadline, more than his promise to Rose, more than anything.

  And he had no idea what to do with that.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THE NEXT DAY at the clinic was hectic for Melissa. Her waiting room was constantly full, and though she did the best she could, and everyone was extremely polite about the wait, she felt she could have done more. Should have done more.

  She really did need help in the front office. She needed someone other than herself to sign people in and organize all the paperwork. Soon, she promised herself.

  Finally she saw her remaining patients—a chicken with a limp, a cat who’d swallowed a dime and a pet rat with a broken tail. She was attempting to figure out how to print the next day’s schedule when the door opened again.

  The biggest Saint Bernard she’d ever seen bounded into the room, tongue hanging out, ears flopping, big body exuberant as he tugged in his master by the leash.

  Melissa followed the leash up—and burst out laughing.

  “Now hold on, Bear—” Jason was jerked to the middle of the room, where he shot her a rather sheepish glance, just before he was hauled over to her by the dog. “Hi,” he managed, just as he was jerked again, to the far corner this time.

  “Let me guess… Bear has a problem.” She knew she should question him about this, his third and most obvious visit, but quite honestly, she felt herself enjoying the game. Coming around the desk, she bent down and whistled softly. The huge dog gave one bark of joy and then galloped over to her, dragging Jason in its tow.

  “Watch out,” he warned as she let the dog sniff her hand before petting him. “He’s a monster of a dog with no idea of his own strength. He’d just as soon drown you by drooling than anything else, and his entire mission in life has been screwing up mine today.”

  “Sit,” Mel commanded Bear quietly. The dog sat.

  She’d already noticed his limp. “Shake.”

  The dog lifted his sore paw, and when she took it in her hands and studied it, he let out a soft cry. “Oh, you poor thing.”

  “I know,” Jason said with a long-suffering sigh as he hunkered down next to her. “I’m exhausted.”

  “I’m talking about the dog.”

  “Oh. Right.” Jason watched her let Bear lick her face. “You going to let me kiss you like that?”

  She ignored the flutter in her tummy and looked into Jason’s laughing eyes. “Are you as good at it as he is?”

  “Better,” he promised silkily. “Much better.”

  She had no doubt of that, but given the way her pulse had kicked into gear, it would be nothing short of dangerous to find out. “You promi