One Millhaven Lane (8 page)

"I really can't eat anything."

"Eat."

"Okay, okay." She took the bowl of fruit salad and ate until there wasn't any more. Fatigue overtook her, then. Her mind was numb and her fingers shook. "I think I'll rest for a minute or two."

He set the tray on the dresser and fluffed the pillows. He ordered her to lay back and close her eyes.

"Yes, sir."

He kissed her forehead.

She grabbed his warm hand. "Please don't leave."

"There isn't any place I'd rather be."

Chapter Six

Asia woke to the sound of wind rushing the back of the house. She sat up without considering her wounds. The pain in her arm and leg was agonizing. She fell against the pillows and closed her eyes against the throbbing.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Nate said.

The wave of pain passed and she resumed regular breathing. She looked at Nate in the high-back chair across from the bed.

"I hope that's not where you spent the night."

"It was more comfortable than a stake-out."

"Have you ever been on a stake-out?"

He grinned and worked his mistake. "I meant to say that I'm sure it was more comfortable than a stake-out, not that I've ever been on one. I meant to say."

"Uh-huh. What time is it?"

He looked at his watch. "Eight-ten. You slept well."

She yawned, unable to remember her last good night's sleep. The rumble of an engine in the back yard had Nate peering out the window.

"We got hit hard last night."

She didn't know what he was talking about. "Am I missing something?"

"The snowstorm."

It took her a moment to remember. "Oh, right. The Nor'easter."

Nate didn't need to say anything more. Other than snow machines and dog sleds, no one would be coming or going for awhile, not with unplowed highways, blustering winds and zero visibility that a blizzard would bring. Everyone would hunker down to wait out the storm. At least now she wouldn't fret about getting back to her shop or about being attacked again in the next few days.

"Did I hear a snow machine just now, or am I hallucinating?"

"No, that's Madge with our breakfast. I left the door unlocked for her. Don't worry, no one can get up here. I locked the doors leading into the main house."

That was her Nate. Always thinking. "Great. I'm famished. First, though, I need to use the bathroom." She threw off the covers.

He leapt to her side. "I'll carry you. Remember the doctor's orders. No undue strain to that leg. You could rupture the wound."

She looped her good arm around his neck when he lifted her from the bed.

Minutes later, refreshed, Asia opened the bathroom door. "I'm finished," she said into the hallway.

Nate didn't answer. In fact, the house was still — exceptionally still. Not the rattle of a water pipe or window or the creak of the floor. A chill rushed down her back. She called his name again. "Nate?" He didn't answer.

Where was he? He said he wouldn't leave. Maybe her assailant had come back and Nate didn't hear him, attacked from behind like he'd done to her. Her fingers shook at the thought. She worried then that Nate wouldn't expect the intruder to return, not with the streets impassable with waist-high drifts. No one should be coming or going anywhere. Except snow machines. Maybe that hadn't been Madge with their breakfast. She could hear footsteps on the stairs. They didn't sound like Nate's. He stepped quietly and lightly. So had her attacker. No. Not again. Without any noise, she closed the door to a crack and peeked out. If her assailant had rendered Nate unconscious, there was no one to protect her. Her wounds made rapid movement virtually impossible. She would be defenseless against an assault. She looked around the bathroom for something to use to defend herself. Her battery-operated toothbrush was her meanest weapon.

Again, she peeked into the hallway, holding her breath. The top of a head came into view. She'd recognize that closely cropped hair anywhere. Exhaling, she opened the door.

"Oh, thank God. I thought the intruder returned." There was little doubt that Bobby was her attacker, yet she refused to call him by name. In denial, a therapist would say. Maybe when the results of the blood analysis came back and pinpointed Bobby, then she'd accept the truth.

"He'd be in handcuffs by now," Nate said, smiling and climbing the remainder of the stairs.

She hobbled into the hall, ignoring Nate's warning to take it easy. She looked at their breakfast.

"Madge outdid herself. Everything looks scrumptious."

"There's more in the kitchen," he said.

"Really? Gosh." They could hole up there for days.

"Wait here while I put the tray in the bedroom."

She did as he told her and waited for him where she stood.

Seconds later, Asia was in bed and staring at her breakfast. "I haven't had oatmeal since I started drinking coffee and that was...too many years ago to keep track of. I was hoping for bacon and eggs or pancakes and sausages. You don't suppose Madge's conspiring with my doctor?"

"Could be, but then
you
more than most people already know oatmeal is wholesome and speeds up the regeneration process."

"I know. I know." She eyed the grapefruit, orange wedges and blackberries. "I should be back on my feet in a couple of days."

He looked at her suspiciously. "Planning on going somewhere?"

"I have to get back to Boston. My shop...."

"Don't you have a second-in-charge?"

"Yes, but — "

"But nothing. It's time to delegate. You're the boss. You can do what you want." He brought his brows together. "Or is it something else? Some other reason you need to leave."

She held his gaze. "No, just my shop."

"Okay, then. Dig in." He handed her a plastic spoon.

"Madge thought of everything."

They ate in silence.

Swallowing the last blackberry, Asia pushed the tray aside. She noticed the single paper cup on the bedside table next to Nate.

"Where's my coffee?"

"None for you. Caffeine robs the body of vitamin C. You know you need a lot of that right now. We need to take every precaution."

"But the antibiotics and tetanus shot." Which reminded her, "My butt still hurts, by the way." She eyed his coffee. "Just a sip. Please."

He stood and lifted the tray from the bed. "No. It's true nurses make the worst patients."

She faked a pout. "I'm irritable without my morning cup of java."

He didn't say anything.

"Like a bear wakened early from hibernation."

"I haven't forgotten." He tucked the covers around her.

Inches from his face, she could see the stubble along his jaw. Her gaze moved upward to his mouth. She closed her eyes and imagined his lips against hers. Her thoughts shifted to last night and the passion they'd shared. She murmured.

"Did you say something?" Nate asked, his arms poised over her head to fluff her pillows.

Asia couldn't wait one more second. She needed to feel his lips on hers. Now. This instant. She didn't give a hoot about her injuries. If the stitches broke, she'd live with a worse scar. Her heart was speaking and the message was clear.
You love him. You've always loved him. There's no other man for you. He's the one.
She put her hand against the back of his head and drew him downward until their mouths were aligned.

"This is not a good idea, Asia."

"Why the hell not?" she asked, unable to remove her gaze from his lips, kissable, perfectly shaped lips. She applied pressure to his head, urging him to surrender.

He didn't budge. "Your wounds. The stitches. They might come loose."

"We'll have to be careful, then." This time when she pushed his head downward, he didn't resist.

Hallelujah.

***

Nate wakened to Asia nestling into the crook of his arm, reminding him of their pledge years ago.

"We'd have made beautiful children."

They'd argued on the number. He'd wanted eight. She wanted four. After much discussion, they compromised and split the difference. Not caring the gender, they'd joked their kids would inherit her strawberry blonde hair and freckles and his blue eyes and dark complexion. Anything was possible, nothing too far-reached where they were concerned.

She murmured. "We would have."

He could feel her eyelashes brush against his chest. "Is it too late?" he asked.

"I'm not over the hill yet." She punched him.

"So there's a chance?" He smiled when she nodded. He wondered the odds but wouldn't spoil the moment by asking.

A sharp, short rap came from below them.
Reflexively, Nate jerked upright. Any little noise spooked him these days, but that one sounded like someone's knuckle hitting hardwood. He wasn't expecting anyone. His first instinct was to grab his firearm, but refrained from doing so for the moment. If he hadn't already, he didn't want to unnecessarily alarm Asia. Only God knew what damage she would inflict on herself if she became reckless.

"What is it?" she asked, pressing herself hard against him.

He cocked an ear toward the open doorway. "I thought I heard something. Probably the house shifting."

Asia listened along with Nate. When a squeaking noise came from downstairs, she said, “The kitchen door squeaks when it opens.”

He threw back the covers and took hold of his gun beneath the pillow. "Lock the bedroom door after me."

She nodded. "Get some clothes on."

"Hello?" a male voice called from the first floor, the sound coming up through the register vent in the hallway. "Anybody home?"

Nate recognized the voice and jumped from bed. "I'll be right down, Chief," he yelled as he threw on jeans and shirt.

Asia giggled. "Doesn't that bring back memories?"

"Yeah." He yanked on his boots, studying her. Now that she knew who was downstairs, she relaxed.

"Remember the time your father came home early from his shift and almost caught us in his water bed." She laughed. "I nearly broke my neck climbing out the upstairs window and down the sycamore."

He brushed a kiss across her lips. "We were hardly teenagers at the time."

She sat up and ran a hand through her hair. "And we're way past young adults now, yet here you are, all worried and embarrassed."

"Am not."

"Are too." She smiled. "But you're lucky. I don't happen to mind."

"That's good, because I have a feeling we'll share more of these times." He buckled his belt. "Stay put."

Nate found Carter sitting at the kitchen table, mukluks on the mat at the door and his balaclava warming his knee, hair as unruly as always. He knew by the rigid set of the Chief's jaw that he'd learned something, something Nate wouldn't like hearing.

"Coffee?" Nate pointed to the thermos Madge had brought with their breakfast.

"Wouldn't mind some, if you got extra."

Nate poured two cups, kept one for himself and handed the other to Carter. "What've we got?" he asked, unable to wait out the inscrutable silence Carter seemed to cherish in situations like those. He'd never determined whether the Chief was building suspense, or building courage.

"The lab analysis came back. Nothing we didn't expect. It's Bobby's blood."

"I wanted a different result. Hopeful thinking, I suppose." Nate shook his head. "Money hungry scum. He knew as her next-of-kin, he stood to inherit everything, if she didn't make provisions otherwise."

"Has she?"

Nate cocked a brow. "I don't know. Maybe not." He shrugged. "I won't ask. She might get the wrong idea. Think he's still in town?"