Cover of Night Read online

  “Nope. I’ve been here two weeks longer than you.”

  She stared down at the tender expression in his eyes, saw the toughness and completeness of him as a man, the utter strength, and she wanted to weep. She opened her mouth, intending to say something important and meaningful, but the words that came out were neither.

  “But I have a mouth like a duck!”

  He blinked, and in complete seriousness said, “I like ducks.”

  29

  THEY WERE LYING ON THEIR SIDES FACING EACH OTHER, talking and kissing, letting the newfound sense of familiarity settle in. There was nothing they could do at the moment about the situation in Trail Stop, nowhere they could go. Snow was still coming down, but here, in this hole in the ground, there was light and warmth and a sense of completion. They couldn’t stop touching each other, each led by the desire to absorb as much detail as possible of the other. Cal’s questing fingers found the scar low on her abdomen and paused, tracing it. “What’s this?”

  Some scars might have bothered her, but not that particular one, because it meant she had two living sons. Cate put her hand over his, loving the tough, sinewy strength that could touch her so gently. “C-section. I carried the boys until eighteen days short of their due date, which is good with twins, but then I went into labor. As it progressed, the first twin, Tucker, went into fetal distress. His umbilical cord was caught. The C-section saved his life.”

  Cal looked alarmed, even though those events were more than four years in the past. “But he was okay? You were okay?”

  “Yes to both questions.” She chuckled. “You’ve known Tucker most of his life. He’s been pedal-to-the-metal from the day he was born.”

  “He is that,” Cal agreed, and mimicked Tucker’s piping voice: “Mimi shoulda watched me better!”

  Cate had to laugh. “Not one of his finer moments, I admit. I’ve been so terrified since Derek died, afraid I wouldn’t do a good job raising them, afraid I couldn’t support them. Since our good neighbors were ‘helping’ you by sabotaging my house, I was actually considering cutting expenses by offering you free room and board in exchange for repairs.”

  He laughed, too, shaking his head. “That’s the same deal I have with Neenah. Well, not the food. Food was part of the offer, right?”

  “It was, but now I know the truth.” She kissed him, reveling in her freedom to do so. “You’ll do my repairs for free anyway, won’t you?”

  “Depends. I prefer trade.” He moved his hand down to her butt, squeezing it to let her know just what sort of trade he preferred.

  Something curious occurred to her. “Just how did you learn how to do all those repairs? You’d just got out of the Marines.”

  He shrugged. “I’m just good with my hands, I guess. I signed up on my seventeenth birthday—”

  “Seventeen!” She was horrified. Seventeen was…seventeen was a baby.

  “Well, I finished high school when I was sixteen, and nobody wanted to hire a sixteen-year-old full-time. I didn’t want to go to college because I was too young to fit in. I didn’t fit anywhere, except the Marines. I got a degree in electrical engineering while I was in, plus I’m a master mechanic, and, hell, anyone can hammer some nails and slap on paint. What’s so hard about it? I’m reading up now on how to reenamel an old tub. What?”

  He didn’t get it, she thought. He truly didn’t get it. She kissed him again. “Nothing. Just that you’re the handiest handyman I’ve ever met.”

  “It’s not like jobs are thick on the ground in Trail Stop, and I knew I’d never see you if I went off to work somewhere and came home only at night. Besides, I like being my own boss.”

  She knew what he meant. As stressful as it was being out on her own, at the same time, owning the bed-and-breakfast, and sinking or swimming by her own effort, was particularly satisfying.

  He lifted his head, looking a little concerned. “Would it bother you, being married to a handyman?”

  Marry. There it was, the big word, the Big M. She had barely gotten her mind around being in love with him, and he was already moving to the next step. To him, though, this was nothing new; he’d spent the last three years getting accustomed to the idea. “You want to marry me?” she squeaked.

  “I didn’t wait three years for you just for sex,” he pointed out with stunning practicality. “I want the whole enchilada. You, the twins, marriage, at least one kid of our own, and sex.”

  “Can’t leave out the sex,” she said faintly.

  “No, ma’am, you can’t.” He was firm on that point.

  “Well. In that case. In reverse order, though you really didn’t ask a second question: yes and no.”

  “The answer to the question I didn’t ask is yes?”

  “That’s right. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  A slow smile started in his eyes, crinkling the corners, spreading to his mouth.

  “As for the first question, I’d marry you no matter what your job was, so I guess the answer to that one is no.”

  “I don’t make a lot of money—”

  “Neither do I.”

  “—but when you add my military pension, I do okay.”

  “Plus Neenah will have to start paying you for her repairs, once you move into the B and B.”

  “I’ll have to fix her ceiling for free, though, since I’m the one who chopped the hole in it.”

  “That would only be right.” Their lighthearted mood dimmed then, as they were reminded of the situation they’d left behind, the people who were dead. She snuggled closer to him, feeling suddenly chilled and needing to cling. “It makes no sense, what those men did.”

  “No. There’s nothing reasonable about it. You gave them Layton’s things, they had what they wanted, there was no reason to—”

  He stopped, frowning, and she saw his gaze turn inward. After a minute it was her turn to say, “What?”

  “You gave him a suitcase,” he said slowly, “but I carried two pieces upstairs.”

  “A suitcase was all Layton brought in—” Now she stopped and stared at him with dawning horror. “The shaving kit! I couldn’t get it in the suitcase because of the shoes. I forgot about it.”

  “I would have noticed if there weren’t any shaving things in the suitcase. So whatever it is they want, they must think you still have it.”

  All the pieces snapped into place, and suddenly everything made sense. Tears stung her eyes, dripped down her cheeks. Seven people had died because she forgot to give Mellor a damn shaving kit. She was both furious and devastated, because if he’d bothered to pick up the phone and call, she’d have mailed the damn thing to him. Hell, she’d have sent it express!

  A cool, decisive look entered Cal’s eyes. They lay awake talking for another hour while he formulated his plan. Cate didn’t like it; she argued and begged that they go back together, but this time he was impervious. He held her and kissed her, but he didn’t change his mind.

  “I have a better angle on them now,” he said. “You were worried about me going into the water; now I won’t have to. Well, except for crossing the stream. I won’t have to stay in it.” That slightly distant look remained in his eyes, and she knew he was mentally working out the details, weighing the odds, developing a strategy.

  Finally, worn out, she slept, and woke at dawn to Cal making love to her. He loved her long and carefully, holding back as if he couldn’t bear to let the moment end. She was sore, but if the pleasure was mixed with discomfort, she didn’t care. Terrified that she might lose him so soon after finding him, she held on tight and prayed.

  Over fifteen hundred miles away, Jeffrey Layton stood at the sink in a ratty motel room in Chicago and shaved with a disposable razor. He was in a shitty mood. This should have worked. He’d been certain it would work. But this was the eleventh day, and still the money he’d demanded from Bandini wasn’t in his numbered account.

  He’d told Bandini he had fourteen days to transfer the money, but Layton had never intended to wait that long. He kn