Stranger In His Arms

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“I remember. There was an explosion in Atlanta—” She broke off suddenly, as if sorry to have interrupted.

“They were terrible, but like so many things, the bombings didn’t seem real here in the cove, just something that we saw on the evening news that didn’t touch us.”

He shivered violently, an involuntary shudder. “We had no idea how close to home it all really was.

“For several weeks after the last bombings, news reports kept announcing that the FBI and ATF had no clues to the identities of the perpetrators. Then one October day two years ago, a group of FBI and AFT agents arrived in Casey’s Cove. A witness had spotted someone at the scene of the last bombing before the explosion occurred. The witness worked with an artist to produce a composite sketch, and the computer tentatively matched the sketch to Johnny Whitaker’s dad.”

“Oh, no.” She gripped his arm tighter against her.

“I confronted Johnny, asked him if he knew whether his dad or brothers were involved in the militant group that had committed the bombings. He swore he knew nothing about it, that there had to have been a mistake, that his dad and brothers were into illegal moonshining, but not bombings.” He drew a long rattling breath. “I made Johnny promise to tell me, to tell the FBI if he found out otherwise. He promised.”

She shifted uneasily beside him as if she’d picked up a glimmering of where his story was headed.

“The federal agents didn’t wait for word from Johnny. They decided to move on the Whitaker place immediately. I looked for Johnny at his place to warn him, but couldn’t find him. I was asked to accompany the feds as the local liaison officer, and we headed into the hills.

“The Whitaker men were waiting for us, and opened fire immediately. Suddenly Johnny appeared out of nowhere, screaming for them to stop shooting so he could rescue his mother. He was out of uniform, and the feds didn’t recognize him—except for his strong family resemblance to the other Whitaker men.”

His words died in his throat, and his pulse pounded in his ears. He could hear again the screams and the rattle of gunfire, smell the acrid stench of cordite, see the blood and Johnny’s sightless eyes staring at the cloudless blue of the Carolina sky while Dylan held his hand as he died.

He stopped, unable to go on. The ticks of the clock thundered in the silence. Jennifer didn’t move.

After several minutes, Dylan continued. “Mrs. Whitaker and Johnny were both killed in the cross fire. Whitaker and his older sons were captured, tried and convicted. They’re all serving life terms in federal prison.”

He shook his head, overwhelmed with a sadness he would never lose. “If Johnny hadn’t lied to me about his family’s involvement—if I’d known the truth, maybe I could have worked out a plan that would have saved Mrs. Whitaker and spared Johnny.”

“It wasn’t your fault—”

“I was there when it happened, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.”

“Johnny made his choice, for whatever reason. Maybe he thought he was protecting his mother. Maybe he had a plan of his own he didn’t have time to carry out.”

He hung his head and bit back tears. “But I’ll never know for sure. All I know is that my best friend lied to me, and now he’s dead.”

He felt her move beside him, and in an instant she had settled on his lap with her arms around him, drawing him close in the warmth of her embrace. He yielded to her caress, buried his face in the hollow of her neck, absorbed her heat and used her supple body as a shield against the numbing coldness that enveloped him. The fragrance of honeysuckle scattered the vestiges of gun smoke and blood from his memory. His muscles relaxed. His breathing slowed.

He didn’t know how long they held each other. The clock struck the quarter, then the half hour, and still they didn’t move. Then, gently, she drew back, placed her hands on either side of his face and raised her lips to his. Her kiss at first was comforting, succor to his pain, blissful alleviation of the hollow ache in his soul.

She tasted of sweet herbs and honey, and her scent infused his senses. Her soothing warmth turned to heat, her tender touch to electricity. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, savoring the taste of her, the weight of her in his arms. His heart thudded with excitement, and he could feel her heartbeats pounding beneath the softness of her breasts pressed against his chest.

Suffused with sudden desire, he slid his hands beneath her sweater and felt the heat of her bare skin against his palms, but his touch apparently broke the trance between them, and she pulled away.

The green of her eyes was smoky with desire, her lips reminded him of a bruised blossom and high color stained her cheeks, but he couldn’t read the expression on her face.

“Maybe I should apologize,” he offered, “but I won’t say I’m sorry.”

Unexpectedly, she threw back her head and laughed. “No need for an apology. Not unless that kiss was another bet with Tommy Bennett.”

“No way,” he said. “And no way was that kiss anything like our first one.”

She seemed agitated then, as if in stating there’d been two, he was implying there might be more. She jumped to her feet. “I’d better check on Sissy.”

He heard her rush into the bedroom, then heard the bathroom door close behind her. He probably shouldn’t have kissed her. Not like that. She’d only been showing sympathy, and he’d wanted more.

Dumb move.

But he’d learned a long time ago—and the hard way—that things already done could not be undone and had to be dealt with. With a sigh, he stacked the dirty dishes on the tray and carried them into the kitchen.

When she returned from the bathroom a short time later, hair combed, face scrubbed and fresh lipstick applied, he had almost finished the washing-up.

As if nothing unusual had transpired between them, she took a clean towel from a drawer, removed a soup bowl from the drain rack and began wiping it dry. “Sissy’s sound asleep.”

He nodded, dried his hands. “Guess I’d better shove off then.”

She hesitated, as if debating whether to ask him to stay. He hoped she would. He still hadn’t learned what caused the fear that flitted across her face when she was unaware he was watching.

Then, as if making up her mind, she nodded. “I’ll see you to the door.”

A few minutes later, he was cruising through Casey’s Cove on his way home. He wasn’t sorry he’d shared Johnny’s story with her, and he damned well wasn’t sorry he’d kissed her.

What he did regret was that he hadn’t kissed her again when he’d left, but her barriers had gone up once more, effectively closing off any advances on his part.