Blackbird Lake (33 page)

She jumped when Jake’s cell phone rang.

He glanced at it with a frown. “Sorry, I have to take this.”

She tried to focus only on the peacefulness of the lake and the cabin and the tall pine trees even as she heard him say firmly, “Ron, sorry, it couldn’t be helped. I don’t rightly know. I’m gonna have to get back to you. I’m dealing with a family crisis here.”

She watched his eyes darken as he listened a moment. “Yeah, I’ll do my best. Tuesday is possible. No, not definite.
Possible.
That’s the best I can do. Give me a day or two and I’ll let you know.”

He ended the call abruptly, then scowled.

“Ron Messina. Vice president of the Turner Taylor Advertising Group. They represent that new shaving cream I’m endorsing. I’ve been putting off the commercial shoot, but they need me to film in Salt Lake City next week or it’ll totally screw up their marketing schedule. But I’m not leaving you and Emma unless everything here is okay. Even if I have to break my damned contract,” he said darkly.

“Jake, it’s all right.” She touched his hand. “You need to do what you have to do. I’m sure once Travis has his system in, we’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, well…maybe.” His brows drew together. “But if this isn’t all settled, and Hodge hasn’t caught whoever
broke in, I think you and Emma should move in with Rafe and Sophie for a few days while I’m gone. Or else with Mia and Travis. I don’t know if you remember, but I’m committed right after to a damned rodeo appearance in Carson City. Three-day gig. I’m not competing this time—just have to show up, wave to the crowd, sit with the announcer awhile each day. And make a few comments for the crowd.” He met her eyes, his own earnest. “I’ll cancel if you want me to.”

“No. Don’t. I understand.”

“No matter what, I need to know before I leave that you and Emma are someplace safe. I’ll try to be back before Emma misses me.”

She forced a smile, unable to help chiding herself for her own foolishness. For getting too close, too vulnerable. Too accustomed to having Jake around.

This honeymoon period with Emma was coming to a close. He was going back on the road, back to the life he loved. And it would suck him in again.

She’d known it would happen. Jake had a life of his own and he had commitments. Sure, she realized now that one of those commitments was to their daughter and she sensed he’d do his best to keep it. But she had to maintain some perspective. She needed to protect her own heart as much as Emma’s. Jake was still a roamer. A daredevil. And he always would be.

Time for you to act like a grown-up,
she told herself.
Enjoy whatever there is between us—the camaraderie of being Emma’s parents, maybe a friendship….

But just because they’d had some very hot, highly combustible, knock-your-socks-off sex the night before was no reason to think anything had changed.

Jake was who he was. A wanderer at heart. A cowboy who steered clear of fences. Only a fool would expect anything different….

Then he shifted closer to her on the blanket and pulled her into his arms.

Oh, hell, so she was a fool. She melted against him. Wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight.

Tomorrow she’d be sane and careful. Next week she’d do her best to forget him. Today…

She fisted the front of his shirt as he pushed her down on the blanket, and then drew him down to her. As his lips brushed hers, his eyes glinting, she smiled into his eyes and gave herself up to his kiss. The waters of Blackbird Lake shone and rippled, the wonderful tiny cabin sat perched on its hill, and they were alone. No one around for miles.

Heaven,
Carly thought dizzily as heat licked through her. His kiss was so gentle it was almost a caress. A tease, full of promise. Then it deepened, grew more urgent. Her lips clung to the demanding contours of his mouth. Oh, yes, she wanted more.

“You taste so damned good.” He explored the curve of her lips, stroked her hair, then began to rain kisses very slowly along her throat. “I think I could kiss you forever—”

Suddenly a sound broke the peacefulness surrounding them.

Not the murmur of the lake, or the whisper of wind through the pines.

The unmistakable sound of a car door slamming.

The next instant, he rolled away from her and was on his feet.

“We’ve got company.”

Carly jerked upright, pleasure vanishing in a blink. Her heart raced when she saw the grimness of his face.

“Who—?”

“Shhh,” he warned, his voice low. “Don’t know.”

He pulled her to her feet. “Quick, go take cover in the brush behind those trees,” he instructed softly, but even as she glanced toward a stand of pines perhaps twenty yards away at the bottom of the embankment, and her lips formed the word “no,” two men appeared at the crest of the hill.

Carly froze. She strained to make out their features. One man was tall, perhaps in his late forties, with brown, close-cropped hair. He looked solid, almost as tall as Jake. The other was thinner, with fair hair and…

Her hands clenched in shock. Oh, God, it couldn’t be.

“You’re trespassing on private property,” Jake called out in a hard tone she’d never heard from him before.

But neither man answered. They merely started down the embankment, coming fast.

Carly felt sick to her stomach. Though she’d never seen the older man in the scuffed jeans and plaid shirt before, he looked slightly—very slightly—familiar. Like someone she may have passed a few times on the street.

But she definitely knew the man alongside him.

The man whose fair hair was cut short and snappy in the latest style, whose elegantly toned body was immaculately clad in a black Gucci leather jacket over a gray polo shirt and dark slacks. She’d have bet a winning lottery ticket that the loafers on his feet were Pradas.

Kevin.

“That’s Kevin Boyd—my ex!” Carly gasped, too stunned to move.

“Is it, now?” Jake squeezed her hand, a grim look in his eyes. “It’s going to be all right. Don’t worry.”

Swiftly he positioned himself between her and the newcomers as the men skidded to a stop at the bottom of the embankment and approached across the tall grass.

Kevin’s face was frightening. His expression was hard and angry—every bit as angry as it had been that night he smashed her birthday gift from Sydney, the exquisite crystal ballerina sculpture. Her stomach dropped.

“That’s far enough,” Jake warned. “Both of you—hold it right there.” Though his tone was low, its unmistakable note of authority had an effect on the other two men. They both halted simultaneously in their tracks. The heavier, older man eyed him cautiously, not afraid, but taking his measure.

They stood maybe fifteen feet away—close enough that Carly could see the fury ablaze in Kevin’s eyes. In the still, pine-scented air, she could swear she caught a whiff of his
aftershave, the private French label he’d used for years and which cost one hundred twenty-five dollars an ounce. She’d liked the scent before, but now it made her want to gag. When she was dating him, she’d thought of him as attractive, sophisticated, and appealing.

Now when she looked at him she saw only the bastard who lied to everyone closest to him. A man who cheated and deceived, who was all shine and sophistication on the outside. Without a drop of substance inside. A man with no strength of character. A hollow tin man without a heart or a conscience. Only a keen sense of his own self-importance.

And suddenly, her fear ebbed. Just like that.

Whatever was going on, it all had to do with her. With her and Kevin.

It was one thing to be afraid of the unknown, but she wasn’t afraid of Kevin Boyd.

“How dare you break into my house.” Furious, she stepped forward to stand beside Jake. “Whatever you were looking for, you can’t have it.”

“Wanna bet?” Rage lanced Kevin’s words.

“Hold on a minute, now,” the taller man growled. He lifted a hand. “Let’s everybody stay calm and peaceable.”

Jake ignored him, nailing Carly’s ex with a cold stare. “You’re done, Boyd. This is over.” His eyes flicked to the older man in the flannel shirt and jeans. “Who the hell are
you
?”

“Giff Hurley. I’m a private detective, hired by Mr. Boyd to help him get his daughter back.”

“To…help him…
what
?” Carly gasped as if a fist had slammed into her stomach. She stared at Kevin in shock. “You are certifiably
insane.
Emma is no more yours than this lake is!”

“Save your breath, you lying bitch. You really thought you’d get away with it?”

Fury vibrated off Kevin Boyd like invisible bolts of electricity. He looked as livid as he had that night in Boston when she’d learned the truth about him having a family and confronted him. He should have been ashamed and
apologetic, but no, instead he’d been enraged. Contemptuous. Now—like then—layers of wrath rolled off of him.

“I know all about what you’ve done,” he spat out, his eyes brimming with scorn. “So you’d better call off your hick cowboy boyfriend here because I’m going to make sure you—and he—never put your filthy paws on my daughter again.”

“She’s not your daughter.” Carly managed to speak through her stunned horror. “This is Jake Tanner and he’s—”

“Stop! Stop lying! You thought I’d never find out, didn’t you, bitch?” Despite his designer clothes and elegant physique, Kevin couldn’t hide the savagery of his anger. “You stole my kid!” He lunged toward her, out of control, his eyes filled with a dark fury.

Jake leaped in front of her fast as a streak of lightning and slammed his fist into Boyd’s jaw. Carly heard the
thunk
and her ex’s grunt of pain as he reeled backward and went down, spinning like a bowling pin.

“Don’t you talk to her that way. Don’t even think about
touching
her or I’ll break both your arms.” Jake shot a hard look at the detective. “That goes for you, too, got it? Both of you better back off if you know what’s good for you.”

“Now, hold on a minute.” Uneasily, the detective glanced down at his moaning client and reached out an arm, trying to help him to his feet. “You’ll hear Mr. Boyd out if you know what’s good for
you.
He’s got rights in this situation and you’d best let him say his piece. You should know I have enough dirt on the woman and you to make sure he gets full custody of his daughter,” he blustered.

Carly gaped at him, stunned. “What are you talking about?” she asked, her voice shaking.

“Not only did you steal his kid and not inform him he had a child,” the detective continued, glaring at her with a look of triumph, “but I happen to know you take her out in the middle of the night when any good mother would keep her home and safe in her own crib. I got the photos to prove it.” He looked her over with smug satisfaction as Boyd
pushed slowly to his feet. “You entertain rodeo cowboys—specifically
this
rodeo cowboy”—he jerked his head toward Jake—“while you’re babysitting other people’s children. Not very respectable or responsible, is it? What kind of a woman are you? And most of all, why did you deny my client any opportunity to know his daughter—”

“Tell you what, buddy.” Jake cut him off, his eyes slits of blue. “You promise not to say another word until the sheriff gets here, and I’ll try really hard not to beat you to a pulp. Carly, call Sheriff Hodge. Tell him to get out here pronto.”

She grabbed her cell phone from her purse and began punching in buttons, but suddenly Kevin dove forward again and tried to wrest the phone from her.

“If anyone calls the police, it’s going to be
me.
You ruined my life. I don’t believe a word out of your lying—”

Jake launched himself at the man and flung him away from Carly, ignoring the sound of Boyd’s leather jacket ripping. Then he swung a fist into Boyd’s jaw again and watched him crumple to the ground.

“You’re crazy, Kevin.” Carly watched dazedly as he tried to push himself to his knees. “You and I were broken up for
months
before Emma was conceived—”

“Stop your bullshit lies. You think I’m an idiot, don’t you? I know the truth! Miguel told me. You remember Miguel, don’t you?”

Miguel?
She stared at him in confusion as the wind chased through the trees. “Miguel from Los Sombreros? I haven’t seen him in years, not since the last time you and I had dinner there. What in the world are you talking about?”

Maybe Kevin had lost his mind. Miguel had been their favorite waiter at the little Mexican restaurant where they’d dined at least once a week when they were together.

“I stopped going there after we broke up,” Kevin spit out. “But I ran into Miguel about a month ago.”

“And your point is?” Jake’s eyes were specks of blue flint.

“He asked me about you.” Though Kevin looked none too steady he still managed to sneer at Carly as if Jake didn’t
exist. His jaw was red and raw where Jake had slugged him, and he hadn’t yet been able to get to his feet. “He didn’t know we’d broken up. He said he saw you at the airport—just about two fucking years ago. He remembered when it was because he’d been headed to Chicago for his uncle’s funeral that day. He said you didn’t see him, but he passed your gate while you were in line to board, and he saw you were flying to Bozeman, Montana. He was happy to see you were pregnant, he said, and he asked me how we were doing, and how was our baby? Wanted to know what we named it—said you were so big, you looked like you were going to have the kid on the plane—”