Embattled Home (21 page)

“I didn’t want you to stop,” he rumbled.

Hesitantly, she reached out to stroke him again, but he moved away. Shifting across the bed, he patted the corner of the mattress, up near the headboard. “You don’t have to stand.”

Lora looked at the spot he had cleared for her and wondered if she was making a mistake as she slid onto the mattress, back resting against the headboard. She could feel the heat of his body radiating to her, but he kept himself far enough away not to spook her. His head was the closest thing to her, resting near her thighs, face turned away. Lora reached out and began to stroke her fingers through his hair again.

She woke two hours later, curled on her side along the length of the cold headboard. Chad’s head rested against her belly and her arm was over his shoulders. She held him as if she’d nestled into his warmth.

Chad shifted, sitting up in bed and turned to her, smiling sleepily. “Thank you.”

Lora straightened her t-shirt and sleep pants as she stood, shocked that she’d let herself relax so. “I’m sorry I fell asleep on you.”

He laughed as he rubbed his bare chest and swung his legs to the side. “You didn’t fall asleep on me. You fell asleep with me. And I enjoyed every dreamless second of it. Thank you.”

If his eyes hadn’t been so sincere, she wasn’t sure if she’d believe him or not. “It wasn’t just for you. I enjoyed it too. Something about the repetitive stroking really calmed me.”

“Well, you can come in and do it any time. Right about two my dreams usually start.”

Lora looked away from the tempting play of his muscles in his back as he attached his prosthesis. “I should go…check on Mercy.”

C
had frowned as
he watched her hustle out the door. It was probably best right now. He looked down at the morning wood tenting his boxers. Poor Lora was going to think he was always hard.

Which around her he usually was.

Checking his phone, he saw a ‘call me when you wake up’ text from Duncan. Well, he could wait a few more minutes. Chad grabbed a towel and headed to the bathroom for his shower.

Twenty minutes later he called his boss.

“Morning, Dunc.”

“Hey, Chad. How goes it in the land of cow pies?”

He laughed, thinking of Mercy’s observations. “It goes good. How did you know?”

His former First Sergeant sighed on the other end of the line. “It wasn’t that great of a stretch to figure it out. It’s the back of beyond down there. Great place to hide. Maybe you can bring back some of your mom’s cookies.”

“I can probably talk her into it, if she hasn’t already thought of it herself.”

“Hey.” Duncan’s voice turned serious. “We’re still fishing with the trade commission, but something happened that may shake everything up.”

“What’s that?”

“Rosalind Malone was found dead in her pool two days ago. Right now they’re ruling it accidental. She had a blood-alcohol level well over the legal limit.”

“Oh, hell,” he sighed. “Yeah, that may change things. Was she alone when they found her? Where was Derek?”

“Not sure. Still getting details. I’ll call you as soon as I know anything else.”

“Okay. Thanks, boss man.”

“No problem.”

After he hung up, Chad dressed and headed toward the front of the house. Lora stood on the front porch, watching the sunrise with a cup of coffee in her hand. Chad hated to disturb her moment, especially when she looked up at him with a smile on her face.

“You’re so lucky to have grown up here.”

“I was,” he admitted. “But it’s been kind of a love hate thing. When I was a kid, the chores were not fun. It’s a lot of hard work running a ranch this size. But once I left home and went overseas, I realized how much I missed it. Where did you grow up?”

She looked off toward the east. “A little town outside of Baltimore. Pretty industrial. My dad worked on the railroad as an engineer. He was killed on the job when I was little. It was just Mom and I then. She died when I was in college, before I met Derek.”

“Wow. I’m sorry.” He touched her shoulder for just a second. “You’ve been on your own a long time.”

Lora glanced at him and shrugged.

“I just talked to Duncan.”

She looked at him, brows raised over her dark green eyes.

“I don’t know how you’re going to take this, but Rosalind was found in her pool two days ago, drowned. She appeared to be intoxicated when she died.”

Lora’s mouth dropped open in shock, but there were no tears. “Are you serious?”

He nodded. “Duncan isn’t sure where Derek is.”

She turned back to the sunrise, more pensive than when he’d arrived, but he didn’t push her. It was hard losing people, even if they were enemies sometimes.

Mercy came out onto the porch then, rubbing her eyes and dragging Handsome by one leg. “I’m hungry, Mommy.”

Lora turned to her with a bright smile. “Well, let’s go get you something then.”

Before she disappeared into the house, she looked over her shoulder and gave Chad a headshake. Message received. Don’t tell the kid.

It was a strange day. Sometimes Lora seemed sad, her eyes tearing up as if the death had affected her, then at other times she seemed satisfied, joyous even. And he could understand both sides of the coin. If Rosalind had been pushing for custody as much as Lora thought, it would stand to reason that she would be hopeful Derek would drop the whole thing.

Their day went a little more to hell when Harper radioed down that there was a red truck, driver unidentified, coming up the hill. Rachel guided Lora and Mercy into the house while Chad waited in the drive for whomever was coming. When the red, jacked-up, chromed out Ford pulled into the drive and he caught sight of the driver, Chad cursed a blue streak.
What the fuck!

Resigned, he opened the truck door, forcing a smile. “Tara Johnson! How the heck are you?”

The woman oozed out of the driver’s side door, leading with her long slim thighs and enhanced breasts. “Chad,” she drawled, “I can’t believe you came home for a visit and didn’t call me.”

Chad forced himself not to cringe as her cloud of perfume wafted over him. “I’m not really here for pleasure, Tara. I brought a few buddies with me for kind of a guy thing, you know?”

Her bright blue, heavily lashed eyes widened. “Then who was the blond woman I saw driving your truck yesterday in town?”

Cursing internally, Chad shook his head. “She’s one of the investigators that works at the company. She’s brand new and we brought her out for some firearms training.”

Eyes narrowing only slightly, Tara slipped her arm through his good one. “Then she won’t mind if we get away then, hm? Let’s go in and sit down for a little while.”

Standing firm, he shook his head. “It’s not convenient right now, Tara. I’m sorry.”

Her pink-slicked lips pouted. “I drove all this way out here, honey, and I was hoping we could catch up. I have so much to talk to you about.”

Tears filled her bright eyes, meant to make him capitulate, but he was unmoved.

“Mama told me about your divorce and I feel so bad for you, but I just can’t spare the time right now.”

Hell. If she made it into the house and saw him with Lora, there’d be no end to the acrimony.

Wait a minute. Why the hell was he being so polite to her?
Because she’s a genuinely sweet person. She was just too much for me
.

Tara clutched at his arm as a tear slipped down her cheek. “It was terrible, Chad. I mean, not as bad as the incredible sacrifice you made for your country, losing your leg and all, but it was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced.”

Another tear slipped down her cheek and when she walked into his arms, he softened enough to wrap them around her. Chad called himself a fool for giving in to her, but she’d been a friend for a long time. They’d gone out years ago and had fun. It was only when he came back from Iraq, missing his leg and scarred, that her solicitous behavior became too much. If she could have looked past the injuries and still been able to connect with him like they had before, everything would have been fine. Hell, maybe he would have married her rather than whatever his name was.

Her sobbing started to recede, so he relaxed his hold. Her gaze landed on his damaged arm and she shuddered.

Nice.

Chad let her go completely. “I’m sorry you wasted your time coming up here.”

She tipped up her chin. “It wasn’t a waste, dear. You’ll come see me again.”

The thought of having to deal with this all over again set his teeth on edge. “Well, Tara, I’m kind of involved with somebody now.”

Her eyes narrowed and she scoffed. “You mean like, serious?”

He nodded.

“She knows about your leg and everything?”

Chad knew his expression cooled. “Yes, she does and it doesn’t bother her. At all. I’m in love with her.”

Tara’s mouth dropped open in shock and she shook her head. “But we…”

“…used to be friends. But we’ve both moved on.”

Fresh tears filled her eyes. This time he felt they were more sincere. But he wasn’t going to retract his words.

The Texas beauty rallied, tipping up her chin and giving him a smile. “Well, then. I guess I’ll be movin’ on. It was nice seeing you, Chad.”

He lifted a hand. “And it was nice seeing you again too, Tara. Take care.”

The truck rattled down the dusty drive and he felt like he’d gotten a load off his shoulders. Her overblown, syrupy concern had driven him nuts for a long time.

Flynn came around the side of the barn, laughing. It struck Chad a little rough. “What?” he snapped.

Flynn shook his dark head, stopping beside him. “She wanted to save you, didn’t she? Thought you needed fixed.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “She didn’t used to be like that before I went over. She used to be a nice girl.”

“I’m sure she is a nice girl, just not for you. Lora’s been watching the entire time. You should go talk to her.”

Chad glanced up at the house but couldn’t see anything behind the shine of the glass windows. “Yeah.”

Flynn walked away without another word and Chad stared off after him. If he didn’t know better, he’d think Flynn had been trying to be nice.

It took him a minute for his eyes to adjust to the dimness of the house. Mercy watched TV quietly, bouncing a little with the characters on the screen. Rachel gave him a nod when he relieved her and headed for her rest.

Crossing to the kitchen, Chad poured half a cup of coffee from the coffee maker and ladled in a couple tablespoons of sugar, then milk.

“Do you even taste the coffee?”

He grinned at Lora over his shoulder. “Course I do. Mama says the Easter Bunny left me in a basket when I was born. And that it’s her fault I have such a sweet tooth, because when she was pregnant with me, she couldn’t get enough of those jelly beans they put out at Easter time.”

Lora laughed and sat at the kitchen table. Chad pulled another cup from the cupboard and poured her some coffee, with just a touch of sugar like she preferred. When he set it in front of her, she stared at it for a long minute before raising it to her mouth.

“Was that an old girlfriend?”

Chad sat down just to her left at the table. She didn’t seem to mind the proximity.

“Not exactly. We grew up together. Her daddy’s spread is to the north of us, so we’ve always helped each other out at roundup and hay time. We hung out.” He shrugged, sipping his coffee.

“She seemed to think it was more.”

Chad glanced at her, a little surprised and pleased to hear a bit of jealousy in her voice. “She would have made it more if I’d let her, but when I came back from Iraq, things changed between us. She wanted to take care of me. Which, in a certain context, I’m all for,” he tossed her a grin, “but Tara made it sound like a sacrifice. It’s hard to explain but when you come back injured, you’re not the same man. Your perspective changes and things become more clear. I don’t know, you kind of learn to wade through all the bullshit quicker or something.”

Leaning back against the chair, he rested his coffee cup between his folded hands. “I was on the verge of taking off because of all the overblown concern. They had a parade for me when I got home and my name is on the stone in the square, but even after all that I couldn’t walk down the sidewalk without somebody racing ahead to sweep it clean. More than once people opened my damn truck door for me. Usually women. I was wounded, yes, but not critically. They acted like I couldn’t do anything for myself anymore.”

Chad realized he’d begun to raise his voice. Lora watched him with a gentle smile.

“Sorry. Can you tell it bothered me?”

She held up her pinched thumb and forefinger. “Just a bit.”

Laughing, he shook his head. “Anyway, I think the women in town took it upon themselves to get me married. Almost every day I had visitors. And at the time my mother was all for it. My parents were almost as bad as the townspeople. Their baby had been hurt. It took them a long time to be okay with me being out of their sight. I don’t think they really realized how okay I was until Duncan offered me the job and I moved to Colorado.”

“How long had you been home?”