Heaven Scent (13 page)

“I was hoping we could picnic in the
Commons today. My cook fixed a spread fit for a king.”

Kitty clapped her hands together. “Oh,
how lovely.”

“I’m not hungry,” Tarin stated, tapping
her foot.

She was being difficult as he’d
expected. But Rafe was a patient man. “That‘s okay. It’s a
beautiful day to spend in the park. Maybe your appetite will return
once you’re out and about.”

“I doubt it.” She raised an impatient
brow.

Kitty groaned under her
breath.

Obviously, he needed to go to Plan B.
One he hated to use but one he knew would be effective. While Rafe
knew he had his work cut out for him on this courting issue, he
needed to know just how far down in the quick sand he had
sunk.

He turned to Kitty Hamilton. “Well,
Miss Hamilton, Tarin is obviously not in a sociable mood. Perhaps
you’d care to join me?”

Rafe saw Tarin’s eyes dart across the
room. Her arms dropped to her sides as she waited for Kitty’s
reply.

“That would be lovely,” Kitty replied,
as she approached him. “We can discuss Tarin at our leisure.”Oh, he
liked Kitty. A lot. “Splendid.” He held out his arm to
her.

“You two think you are so clever,”
Tarin said as they turned to go.

He and Kitty turned back
around.

“I’d like to think so,” Kitty
teased.

Hands fisted at her sides, Tarin
stormed past them into the foyer. “Just let me get my parasol. I
cannot afford to freckle.”

#####

Just look at him, the smug brute.
Looking more handsome and appealing than a mere man should be
allowed. He acted as though giving her a slice of heaven last
evening was an everyday occurrence for him. Tarin gritted her
teeth.

Rafe was right. It was a glorious day.
The park was littered with families enjoying the June sunshine. The
three of them sat in the shade of an old elm, with a feast of
roasted chicken, cheese, fruit, and tarts spread out before
them.

Tarin hadn’t eaten a bite.

Under normal circumstances, it would
have been a treat to picnic with friends in the Commons. In this
case, it was pure torture.

Rafe lounged before her, his arm
propped on his bent knee, eating grapes and conversing with Kit as
though they were long lost friends. All Tarin could think about was
how much she wanted him to lie her back on this same blanket and
resume what they had started last evening.

And tell him yes.

Tarin snatched a grape from the basket
and rolled it between her fingers. It did not occur to her until
she was lying in bed last night that he had asked to court her.
Such an occasion would normally be forefront in a woman’s mind
however, his seduction had overshadowed it so completely Tarin
hadn’t comprehended Rafe’s meaning until he had left.

Tarin shook her head in disgust. Every
time she thought about what she had allowed him to do, she wanted
to hide under a rock and never come out. She was a lady and had
never allowed a man such liberties. She didn’t want Rafe Sutherland
in her life and most definitely didn’t want to question why she had
allowed him access to such intimacies.

He represented a hurt that she wanted
no part of. Tarin had learned at an early age that the closer she
became to another human being, the more it would hurt when they
left. What she had shared with Rafe had the potential to devastate
her.

“Are you trying to make wine out of
that grape?” Rafe’s dark brown eyes twinkled in the rays of
sunshine peeking through the leaves above. The breeze lifted the
hair from his collar, sending a whiff of his spicy soap to tease
her nostrils.

“No, just imagining it was someone’s
head.” She gave him a raised brow as she popped it in her mouth and
deliberately bit down on it.

He laughed aloud as he grabbed another
from the basket and handed it to her. “Here, I’ve got a pretty
tough head. I can be damned stubborn - particularly when I want
something.”

His meaning wasn’t lost on her. The
question was, why?

“I, too, can be stubborn,
Mr. Sutherland,” she retorted. “Particularly when I do
not
want
something.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, Tarin.” Kitty
squinted her eyes, her stare filled with meaning. “You can be
overly stubborn about anything.”

Rafe laughed again. Tarin was tired of
acting the butt of their teasing.

“So, Mr. Sutherland,” Kitty announced,
as she broke off a piece of bread and placed the loaf back in the
basket, “Do you miss Texas?”

“Nooo.” Rafe shook his head adamantly.
Tarin waited for his elaboration, but he offered none.

“What was life like back there?” Kitty
asked. “Is it as savage and uncivilized as they say?”

Staring out into the park, Rafe’s face
grew solemn. Gone was the teasing glint in his eyes, the lopsided
smile. He appeared deep in thought, immersed in memories that
troubled him. Always so confident and unshakeable, to see him so
melancholy, bothered Tarin. She wanted to erase those thoughts
forever.

“It’s a hard life,” he finally said,
the hand cupping his knee white-knuckled. His eyes turned to Tarin
and held. “Cities are fragile shells of Boston. It’s dirty,
dangerous, and unstable.” He held his arm out wide to encompass the
park and its inhabitants. “There is no peace like this. If you
believe it exists, you’re a fool. Just a simple picnic like this is
a gift, if you can get it.”

It took all Tarin had not to reach for
him. Her heart felt as though someone squeezed it from within. To
see his eyes downcast, the sides of his mouth turned down, was
horribly distressing.

“As a matter of fact, the last time I
did something like this was right before…”

He looked up at her. Tarin stilled.
Pain creased the area between his brows. His scar shown white in
the hollow cheekbones of his face.

Tarin clutched the blanket in her fists
to keep from pulling him into her embrace. “Before?…”

“I was… injured.”

In that moment, Tarin knew that
whatever had happened to Rafe back in Texas had been more monstrous
than she could’ve ever imagined. For something to cause such grief
in a man so strong and confident, it must have been
horrific.

“What happened to you?” Leaning
forward, she reached for his hand across the blanket.

Glancing at her hand, Rafe’s eyes met
hers and held. His brows furrowed.

A shrill whistle pierced the air,
causing the three of them to whip their heads around. Across the
park, a police officer chased a young man wielding a gun. Screams
snowballed as they crossed the crowded lawn, headed in their
direction. The heavyset officer ran swiftly, but the dirty man was
too fast. The officer would lose him if someone did not
intervene.

Raising his pant leg, Rafe slipped a
knife from its ankle holster. Tarin caught her breath. “What are
you doing?”

She knew her eyes must have appeared as
wide as china plates when he turned to her.

“Get behind the tree,” he ordered, his
look brooking no argument. Scrambling to their feet, Kitty looked
at Tarin before they nodded in unison and rounded the
elm.

Peeking around the tree, Tarin watched
Rafe‘s eyes follow the man as he raced across the park. When the
gunman was a few feet away, Rafe drew back his arm and threw the
knife. Her heart pounded as it spun through the air in a blur,
stabbing into the man’s knee. Wailing aloud, the man tumbled to the
ground, clutching his leg to his chest. The gun fell to the grass
beside him. The gunman glared up at Rafe who bent to pick up the
gun.

“Did you see that?” Kit whispered,
peeking around the opposite side of the tree.

Tarin could not answer, her eyes glued
to the man lying beneath Rafe. What if he tried to trip Rafe, or
had another gun? Wincing inside, she sent a litany of prayer to the
skies above.

The officer reached Rafe a second
later. Heaving for breath, the officer’s smile was grateful.
Hauling the man to his feet, Rafe held him as the officer chained
the man’s hands behind his back. The man’s foul language echoed
throughout the park, adding further ruin to the tranquility of the
day. Rafe stood stoic, rigid as the man spat his abuse.

Without a touch of finesse, Rafe bent
and yanked the knife from the man’s leg. Howling in pain, his dark,
swirling eyes shot daggers at Rafe. The officer pocketed the gun
Rafe handed him and dragged the man away. Onlookers frowned as he
continued his tirade until they were out of sight.

Wiping his blade off in the grass, Rafe
bent to place it back in the holster before returning to the
blanket. “You can come back around now.”

She could not pull her eyes from him.
Searching for some sign of distress, Tarin saw nothing but the same
relaxed state he held prior to the incident.

“That was incredible.” Kitty’s eyes
were fixed on Rafe as she took her seat.

Rafe shrugged, his eyes on Tarin. “That
was nothing.”

Nothing? How could he say that? A part
of Tarin was proud of Rafe for helping the officer. None of the
other gentlemen in the park had taken it upon themselves to assist.
Rafe had stepped up without a thought.

The other part of Tarin wondered at his
lack of hesitation. She had no doubt Rafe could have protected them
if the man had approached with the gun.

But, had Rafe been a Ranger, a
defender, for so long that nothing frightened him any longer? Was
he careless with his own life?

She had already lost someone dear to
her - the pain was still brutally acute twelve years later. She
didn’t want to go through that again. Ever.

“Are you well?” she asked, as he wiped
his hands on one of the towelettes in the basket.

Lifting the corner of his mouth, he
dropped the towel on the blanket. “Fine.” He held his hand out to
her, palm up. “Walk with me?”

Tarin heard Kitty catch her breath as
the blood rushed in her own ears. There was only one reason why
Rafe wanted time alone with her. “Why?”

Kitty elbowed her in the
side.

“There’s a matter I need to discuss
with you in private.” His cocky grin was back.

No, no, no, no, no.
Don’t make me
face this
.

Please let him change his
mind. She can’t -
she won’t
- accept. Not now, not ever.

Tarin took a deep breath. “There is
nothing you cannot say in front of Kitty.”

He stared at her a long moment, a
thoughtful frown on his face. All of a sudden, he dropped down on
one knee and took her hand in his. Tarin thought her heart would
jump out of her chest and into the food basket. He kissed her
fingers softly before blessing her with another grin that stole her
breath.

Yes
, was on the tip of her tongue. All the more reason to keep
her mouth shut.

“Tarin, I owe you an
apology.”

She frowned. If he apologized for what
they had shared last night, she would hit him with one of the rocks
holding down the blanket.

“I realize I didn’t make my intentions
clear last night before things… got out of hand.”

Tarin felt heat bloom in her cheeks.
Maybe she should have taken that walk. She tried to pull her hand
from his grasp. He tightened his grip.

“Tarin, would you do me the honor of
allowing me to court you?”

With the breeze in his hair, and a
softness around his eyes she was sure no Indian ever saw, Rafe
Sutherland was nearly impossible to resist. Soap had never smelled
as good as it did on this man, and no voice had ever wooed her as
his deep baritone did now.

He had awakened a woman in her that
didn’t exist before his return to Boston. A woman that threatened
all of her well-made plans. The two together were a force to reckon
with.

“No, Rafe.” She winced internally as
soon as the words left her mouth.

His shoulders slumped. Kitty groaned
low.

“I thought you’d say that.” Sighing, he
dropped her hand.

He did? “Well, then why did you ask
me?”

“Because I had to start
somewhere.”

Kitty chuckled. Tarin glared at
her.

“Start? What do you
mean,
start
?”

He gave her that
other
grin, the arrogant
one that infuriated her. “You didn’t think I’d take no for an
answer, did you?”

Chapter 8

Tarin had gone to great lengths to make
her story believable. Moaning and wincing, she told Hobbs first
thing this morning that she had a horrible headache and did not
want to be disturbed.

Sitting on the window seat in her
bedroom, Tarin clutched a pillow in her lap as she stared down at
the gardens. Today was the perfect day to feign an illness. Kitty
tended her ill mother, and the next seminar was not scheduled until
tomorrow. Now all she had to do was avoid Rafe
Sutherland.