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She reiterated what she’d already told the other officers. “He got away.” And that was what bothered her most. When she’d been racing from window to window inside Martha’s house, the night had cloaked him. Where was he? When would he show up next? Where would she be? Was he waiting outside? She’d have to watch over her shoulder constantly. And locking her house wouldn’t be enough. What was she going to do?
She looked through the darkened window. In daytime she could see her house from here. Now she only saw her porch light. She didn’t want to go home. What if he was out there now? Watching the police. Waiting …
“Don’t worry, Gemma,” Ford said, bringing her gaze up to his gorgeous blue eyes. “I’ll find him.”
Movement at the front door made her turn with Ford. Bo Fargo entered. Big and tall, walking with an air of steamrolling intensity. He was older, in his fifties, with thinning brown hair. As he drew nearer, his bleary blue eyes drilled her with what she suspected was annoyance and forced concern.
“I heard what happened.” He came to a stop next to Ford and asked Gemma, “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” She was getting tired of being asked. “Fine.”
“You were lucky to get away from him.” No mincing of words there. He definitely was a man who demanded respect. But there was something darker there, too.
Averting her gaze, she spotted Hallie handing her grandmother a cup of hot tea. Then she noticed the firemen had gone, and the other officers were beginning to do the same. It left her empty and full of dread. Soon she’d have to face her house alone. The glass in her back door was broken.
“You can stay here for the night.”
Gemma turned to see Hallie.
“Right, Grandma?” Hallie asked Martha.
“Of course, dear.” Martha looked at Gemma. “We have plenty of room.”
“Thank you.” The two had no idea what that meant to her. Or maybe they did. But then the way Hallie watched Bo caught her suspicion. She all but glared at the man. The boy she’d entered the house with moved to her side, watching along with her. What was that all about?
“This is the second time Jed Johnson has gotten away, Ford,” Bo said. “I thought you were going to assign a patrol to Gemma’s house.”
Ford’s reaction was full of resentment. “I did.”
There hadn’t been enough time.
“Well, apparently it isn’t enough.”
“According to whom?”
Gemma did a double take at Ford’s retort. Clearly he wasn’t afraid of his boss.
The Chief of Police didn’t appear offended; challenged, maybe, but not offended or angry. He knew he was in charge. Or thought he was. “We can’t have this kind of crime happening here in Cold Plains. It ruins our stellar reputation. Our peace-loving culture. Something like this threatens the morale.” He turned to Gemma. “Isn’t that right?”
He was asking her? “W-well … I suppose so.” She didn’t like feeling afraid to go home. Her house was her sanctuary. Was her sanctuary. That had been stolen from her. By that worthless wife-beater of an ex-husband she so stupidly married in the first place!
Ooh … she was going to find something really frivolous to blow a sizable chunk of his money on.
Noticing Ford’s brooding presence, she wondered what made him dislike Bo.
“A patrol obviously isn’t enough,” Bo reiterated. “Samuel suggested that it might be a good idea if you stayed with Ms. Johnson until our perpetrator is captured. I happen to agree.”
Gemma covered her surprise and saw Ford doing the same.
“Samuel wants Ford to stay with me?” To protect her?
Bo smiled, cunning and sureness abounding. Indomitable cunning. “Yes, he does, Ms. Johnson. He was not at all happy to hear that you were attacked again. He cares a great deal about your well-being. He cares even more about the well-being of this town. He would care about any woman who’s been brutalized. He wants you to feel safe, and I intend to make sure that you do.”
While that sentiment eased a lot of her anxiety in a giant rush, she also hesitated. Samuel seemed to be going overboard for her. Or was Bo accurate when he said he cared about any woman who’d been brutalized? Yes. Samuel was out for the good of the town as a whole.
“Of course, it’s ultimately up to you, but I do agree with Samuel that it’s in your best interest to have an officer at your house when you’re there. You shouldn’t be alone until we capture Jed.”
“I …” She looked at Ford, whose hard eyes met hers.
“If not Ford, then someone else,” Bo looked at Ford expectantly.
“I’ll do it,” Ford snapped, and then softly to her, “But only if you agree.”
Torn, Gemma looked from Ford to Bo and then through the front window. Though her house was still well-lit, it may as well be in Amityville.
Slowly, she met Ford’s eyes again. “I would hate to impose on your time …”
“It would be no trouble.” Ford’s voice was calm and every bit as sure as Bo had been. “I’d rather not risk another attack, either.”
She smiled up at him and he looked at her mouth.
“Then it’s settled,” Bo interrupted. “You’ll stay with Gemma until Jed is caught.”
“Only if you’re sure,” Ford said, never moving his gaze from her.
“I have a guest room on the first level. You’ll be very comfortable.”
“Don’t worry about accommodating me, Ms. Johnson. I’ll just be doing my job.”
Protecting her. Making her feel safe. “Gemma.”
“Gemma,” he said in his deep voice.
A flutter of excitement warned her to be careful. So did the softening of his blue eyes. The blink that followed cleared it too soon and she felt him withdraw into the role of protector.
“You’ll be a lot more comfortable at Gemma’s house than that apartment you rent,” Bo said. “She’s fixed it up into a model of what we like to see here in town.”
“It did need a little work when I moved here.”
“It’s a beautiful place. Cold Plains wouldn’t be what it is without good people like you. Rest assured, we’ll keep Jed away from you from here on out.”
A surge of warm gratitude filled her even while she wondered why he and Samuel were being so kind to her. What was it about this town? Everyone seemed that way. It was almost too good to be true. But too good to be true was her medicine right now.
“I can’t tell you what that means to me,” she said. “I’m so happy to have found a place to live like this. It’s … it’s just … what home should be.”
Beside her, Ford eyed her askance and then turned his silent watchfulness back to Bo. The negative undercurrents couldn’t be missed, leaving Gemma wondering where they came from.
Late afternoon the next day, Gemma watched Ford close the front door after the handyman had finished replacing the window in her back patio door. Before she’d even thought to fix the window, Ford had arranged everything. Now he turned and looked at her. She’d been watching him all day, and he’d caught her many of those times. Starting with breakfast, through his many patrols of her house and yard. All afternoon while he oversaw the handyman and took calls for work. She’d tried to occupy herself with chores. Laundry. The kitchen. Reading. Always he was near, and she was drawn to him.
Staring at him from across the living room grew awkward. She turned away and headed for her back patio, loving her new window and the way it erased Jed’s presence. Outside, birds chirped and the sun lit up a clear blue sky. No wind rustled the leaves of her plum tree. Bees visited her wildflower garden. She moved over to the new fountain she’d purchased after the handyman left. It was big, elaborate and expensive, and water trickled over three tiers of beautifully carved stone. She could almost enjoy the pleasure of a simple, warm summer day.
She sat down on her one-of-a-kind, intricately and colorfully tiled patio table and put her feet up on the adjacent chair. Toying with the bracelet on her wrist, she looked down at the dangling sapphires and diamonds. Jed had bought the expensive piece for her. He’d even engraved her name in it. With love. She didn’t wear it because of that. She wore it for the constant reminder of what marrying a monster had done to her, a reminder of a mistake never to make again. She hadn’t kept anything else he’d given her, not that there was much. Falling for Ford as fast as she was couldn’t be a step in the right direction. She had to be careful. Take her time. Be decisive. Ford might seem like a good and honest man, a cop, but she needed time to heal from being with someone totally opposite. She couldn’t afford to be impulsive with men anymore.
A sound made her look over her shoulder toward the door.
Ford leaned against the doorjamb, eyes partially squinted against the sun in a western sky. He had his hands in the front pockets of his faded jeans and his ankles were crossed. The soft denim fitted him well, resting comfortably at his waist just beneath a flat stomach. And had any man looked sexier in an impeccably pressed, white long-sleeved shirt? The badge clipped over the left side of his muscular chest had to help with that.
Realizing she was really checking him out, she was about to turn away when she noticed him doing the same with her. Their eyes met. She averted hers first, too in danger of giving in to impulse.
“Fountain looks good.”
“Thanks.”
“Punishing your ex?”
She smiled, hearing his affectionate tone. “Yes.”
He chuckled. “Fourth of July is the day after tomorrow.”
Was all this small talk masking their brewing attraction? “Yeah. Town’s got a big celebration planned.” Elaborate. The streets would be lined with flowers and vendors selling food and souvenirs. A band was hired and a huge fireworks display would go off over the park. She’d heard about it all week. It would be the grandest fireworks display in the entire state of Wyoming.
Standing, she moved to the edge of the patio.
“I need you to stay close to me.”
She faced him, taking another sneak peek at him in those jeans. “Okay.” She’d have done that anyway.
Catching his gaze moving from her chest to her face, she felt as though the fireworks were starting early right here on her back patio. She checked for a wedding ring and didn’t see one. Why would a man who looked as good as him not be taken by now? Surely he had to at least have a girlfriend.
“How old are you?” she asked. He didn’t look much older than her.
A slight smile toyed with his mouth and then vanished as though he’d curtailed the enjoyment of her question and the possibility that she was interested in more than his protection. “Twenty-eight.”
Only three years older than her.
“Your girlfriend must not like you having to stay here,” she said, hoping she wasn’t being too obvious, a roundabout way of finding out if he was single. And why was she doing that anyway?
He pushed off the door frame and stepped onto the patio, walking in that macho way of his to the edge of the artfully placed stone. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Does your family live here?”
“I don’t have a family.”
The flat sound of his tone alerted her curiosity. “None?” Surely he had some kind of family.
He was standing so close to her she could smell his cologne. Nice. Subtle. Deep and just enough spice. But his short answers had her wondering. “What about your parents?”
Looking out into the yard, he didn’t respond. Whatever had happened to his parents was painful for him to talk about.
“Don’t you have anyone close?” How sad if he didn’t.
He turned back to her with much less angst. “Anna. She’s my … mother.”
Gemma didn’t know what to say. Anna was a mother figure to him and he’d obviously lost his real parents somehow.
“She won’t be able to stay away,” he said with a fond grin, surprising her. He didn’t have any trouble talking about Anna. “Knowing I’m shacked up with a woman.”
She smiled. “You’re working. Bo Fargo told you to stay with me.”
“That won’t matter. She’ll take one look at you and …” He didn’t finish.
“And what?” She had to bite back the direct questions popping up in her mind. What had happened to his parents? How had he come to be close to this woman named Anna?
His gaze fell all over her body. “Never mind.”
“Too late, Deputy McCall,” she coaxed. “What will she think?”
He grunted his amusement. “That there’s something going on between us.”
“She’d like that?” So would Gemma …
“She’s been hounding me lately to settle down again.”
Again? “You were married before?”
The tension reappeared beyond the iron wall that shielded his eyes. “What do you want to do for dinner?”
Wow. That was definitely another touchy subject. He didn’t like talking about his family or his past relationships. Except for Anna. How odd.
Sensing she’d get no more information out of him, she remembered she was supposed to meet Lacy. “Oh.” She checked the time. “I almost forgot. I have to stop by Cold Plains Coffee to pick up Lacy.”
“You have plans tonight?” The annoyance in his tone was unmistakable.
What didn’t he like? The fact that she had to go out and he’d have to go with her or that it was Lacy she was going to see? “We’re going to a seminar.”
“You just went to a seminar.”
Clearly, he didn’t approve of them. “When I called to tell her I couldn’t stop by today, she asked if I’d go with her tonight.”
After a lengthy pause, he said, “Be careful who you befriend at those.”
His warning made her search his eyes to see if he was serious. He was. “Do you mean Lacy?” She laughed a little. Lacy was the friendliest person she’d ever met.
“Haven’t you noticed anything odd about the community center?” He turned to face her full-on.
“No. It’s modern and beautiful and it serves a wonderful purpose.”
“Yeah, yeah. Samuel is a godsend. What would Cold Plains do without him?”
