Blindsided (8 page)

“When you meet the right girl.” She meant it to come out teasingly but somehow it didn’t sound that way.

Oh no
…
this is the worst timing ever.

“Yeah,” he said, staring at her, the small smile fading from his face.

No way. There was no way either of them, at less than a days acquaintance, could even be thinking anything of the sort.

Love at first sight. She didn’t buy into it. Animal lust, yes. There wasn’t much question, considering the night before and this morning’s sex-a-thon.

Of course, she hadn’t exactly bought into the animal lust thing before the gorgeous Mr. McCutcheon picked her up in a blizzard either.

It was crazy. Not just what she had already done, but what she was thinking.

Clearing her throat, she switched the subject. “What are they saying about the storm now?”

“At least another day of blowing like this and then everyone can start to try and dig out. Where we are, the road will be last priority, believe me.”

Another few days then, at least.

Thank God.

58

Kate Watterson

The computer screen flashed and he typed in the code, frowning as the account came up. Still no activity.

Well, fuck.

Nathan Henderson sat back in his chair, feeling frustration rise. As far as he could tell—and he’d hacked into everything possible—Dr.

Burke hadn’t used her bank card, any credit cards, or her cell phone for at least four days. The tracking device attached to her car had lost the signal somewhere north of the Wisconsin state line, probably due some pretty bad weather they were having up there.

In short, he had no idea where the lady might be.

The trouble with dealing with someone like her was she was smart. It irked him to think so far she’d managed to circumvent his every effort to pin something down but somehow she had. Was she now running scared?

Yes, she was. Motivation was the question.

He liked to think he was more cerebral than having to resort to underhanded tactics like the past few weeks, but given the situation he hadn’t had a choice. He was operating outside the lines, trying to keep things as low profile as possible.

For some very good reasons.

There wasn’t much doubt she’d have to come back eventually. No one with a full lucrative practice who spent all that time going through medical school would let it go easily.

There was no choice but to wait until she resurfaced and see what happened next.

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* * * *

It was bone-freezing cold, the wind chill in below zero double digits, and probably dangerous to be outside for long but at least the blizzard conditions had abated. Finally.

The drift outside was so high Jesse couldn’t wedge the front door open, the amount of snow impassable from sheer volume. He’d kept the back clear by going for wood every few hours and had a semi-decent path to the lean-to where he stored the firewood he replenished each spring, but that was the wrong direction.

Jesse waded through waist deep drifts, avoiding the even deeper ones, and finally made it to the top of the drive. His truck at the bottom was only about half-visible and the notion of clearing the winding track back to the road was daunting. He had a snowmobile for just such emergencies and that was going to be the only option for right now if they had to go somewhere. It would probably take him a few more days to get enough snow out from behind the vehicle to be able to back it up, which was fine because by then they might have gotten to the side roads. Kerin’s car, too, needed to be towed and repaired before it was a big deal to go anywhere. Luckily for him, the company was on the usual winter lull and between large jobs, so he’d planned on staying for a few weeks anyway.

The more time he got to spend with Kerin the better, in his opinion. She didn’t seem to have cabin fever either for someone used to a hectic life. They spent a good deal of time talking—and in bed—

and it was proving to be the best vacation of his life.

Trudging back, he stamped into the garage through the back door, shedding his snow-covered coat, boots, and gloves, and went back inside, grateful for the warmth. Kerin was in her usual spot by the fireplace, drinking coffee from a thick mug, the expression on her face hard to interpret. She didn’t look like a professional woman who was over thirty in one of his oversized shirts, the sleeves rolled up around her slender wrists.

60

Kate Watterson

He went and poured himself a cup, curling his hands around the warm porcelain. “It’s still pretty rough out there. I’m going to guess even though they say they’re getting started on the roads, from the amount of snow and the extent of the drifting the county road crews have their work cut out for them.”

Relief showed in the softening of her mouth. “We have a few more days?”

What an interesting way of putting it.
We
?

“At least. I’ll get started this afternoon on trying to clear the driveway, but it’s so cold I‘m not interested in frostbite or killing myself.”

“I’m not interested in you doing either of those two things either, so we’re on the same page.” Her smile was a little wan and she turned and stared at the fire. “If you aren’t tired of me being here, I’m more than happy to stay.”

Tired of her? Yeah, right. He was so the opposite he was a little off balance. He went in and stood by the mantle, still cradling his cup.

“I planned on staying for at least two more weeks. You’re welcome to keep me company for as long as you like.”

It was amazing, but after the past few days in her company, he meant it.

She shook her head, her soft hair moving against her shoulders.

“Not that long. I have to go back. This whole trip was spur of the moment and I have responsibilities. All I told my office staff was to cancel my appointments until they heard from me. They’re probably wondering what is going on. Besides, you wanted solitude, didn’t you?”

The luminous look in her eyes didn’t escape him and tears were not what he expected. One droplet gathered on her lashes and spilled over to slide in a glistening trail down her cheek.

“Solitude is way overrated I’ve decided since I dragged you here.”

He set aside his cup and moved toward where she sat curled in the leather chair. He picked her up and settled back down so she rested on
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his lap. A muffled laugh of protest escaped, but her head fell into a natural spot on his shoulder and nestled there.

“I’m not a little girl.” She belied the protest by curling into him more, one hand grasping the open neck of his shirt, her fingers warm against his skin.

“Amen. And may I say I’m damned glad.” Jesse let his mouth graze her hair. Then he asked simply, “Can I help?”

“No.” A small sob came, and then another, and she began to cry, quivering against him, her face pressed into his shirt. It came and went quickly, which didn’t surprise him because whatever was happening, he’d already discovered she was both intelligent and normally self-confident.

Eventually she lifted her damp face and swiped at her damp cheeks with one rolled up sleeve. She whispered, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. We all need a meltdown now and again.”

“Artemis is missing.”

Since he had no idea who Artemis might be, he struggled to come up with an appropriate response and finally decided not to say anything and just let her talk.

She gave something between a watery hiccup and a sigh. “He’s just a stray, but I started feeding him and I could see where they might think he was my cat. Well, maybe he
is
my cat. Or was anyway.”

The hollow tone of her voice made Jesse holder just a little tighter, as if the clasp of his arms could protect her. “They?”

“Whoever is…after me.”

That didn’t sound promising. He remembered all too well how she’d acted when they first got to the cabin. “Stray cats, well, they stray, Kerin.”

“His food bowl was smashed to pieces. I leave it on the back deck.”

Shit, that did sound malicious. “Maybe you’d better start from the beginning.” Jesse added, “If you want, that is. No pressure.”

“The trouble is, I have no idea why this is all happening.”

62

Kate Watterson

Still holding her in the cradle of his arms, he felt an unexpected surge of protectiveness at the vulnerability in her tone. “What
has
happened? Tell me.”

The fire crackled into the resulting silence. Then she cleared her throat. “It started a month ago with a burned out light bulb.

Something so simple. I went to change the bulb and noticed there was this…thing. Some kind of electronic device stuck up under the fixture. Obviously I’d changed the bulb before and though it was very small, I noticed there was something strange where it shouldn’t be.”

“What kind of thing?” Jesse frowned.

“A bug. When I called the police they told me it was the kind of thing that monitored any sound in the room. I couldn’t believe it. I’m actually not home all that much to begin with, and even so, I can’t imagine why anyone would bother. It isn’t like I lead an interesting life particularly. I mean…why?”

Since to him she was damned interesting, he suppressed the urge to argue the point, too concerned over the revelation. “Someone is spying on you?”

“I’ve been followed, also. Unless I am imagining it and I don’t think so. It’s escalating, too.” She shivered against him. “It sounds paranoid, but it’s true.”

“All right, I believe you.” He believed that, at the least,
she
really believed it, remembering how frightened she’d been when he first picked her up. He prodded gently, “Define followed.”

A small sigh escaped, brushing his throat. “This is going to sound really circumstantial, I’m afraid. But when you’re living it, it isn’t.”

“Try me.”

“On at least three different occasions I’ve seen a dark car, sedan of some type, behind me in traffic. I don’t mean for a few blocks, I mean from almost the time I leave the house to my destination. The first time it happened I really didn’t think much about it because you know how it is, every once in a while someone just happens to be going to the same place. In my case, it was the hospital, so since
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plenty of people go there, I dismissed it. But later the same day I noticed the car again, this time when I went to the office.”

“You’re sure it was the same car?”

“I was sure enough it bothered me. It has happened a couple of other times also, and I’ve even changed my route and it was still there.”

“Okay. I can see with the listening device in the mix, you might have grounds to be suspicious of something like that.”

“There’s more. A couple of days before I left I know there was someone
inside
my house while I was gone during the day, which absolutely freaked me out. Whoever it is can get in. I have a security system but it doesn’t matter.”

His fingers lightly sifted through her hair and he had to tamp down the urge to swear out loud. “That would freak me out, too. How could you tell?”

“When you live alone, you leave things in certain places. I’m pretty “A” personality. The door to the basement was ajar. If you don’t pull on it just a certain way, it cracks back open when the furnace comes on. I make sure to close it well because it’s a habit, and I hadn’t been down there in a week. My computer, too, should have been asleep but the screen was up. I don’t see how anyone could login without my password, but it made me think someone had tried.”

A cracked door and a possible computer malfunction weren’t much to go on, it was true. “My computer has frozen up before and needed a shut down.”

She quivered a little against him. “I know, but it also just
felt
like someone had been in there. It sounds stupid, but it was almost as if the minute I walked in, I knew.”

For whatever reason, he found that the most compelling piece of evidence. He’d always believed human beings had perceptive instincts they didn’t use often enough.

He now understood why she’d been so jumpy. “What made you run? The missing cat?”

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Kate Watterson

“No.” Her head shook where it rested against his shoulder. “Like you, I know they stray, even though the smashed bowl made me cry…”

And she didn’t cry easily, despite what had just happened. That he’d already sensed about her.

“I called the police. Again. I have a feeling they think I’m a nut.

They asked a few questions about old boyfriends, that sort of thing, but basically told me since nothing had been stolen and no direct threat was made, there wasn’t much they could do. For several nights I couldn’t sleep, even with a can of pepper spray right next to me. I don’t even think I dozed off. I guess at that point, I was so strung out I just decided to leave so I could think about all of it, try to figure out
why
.” Her smile was a wan tremble of her lips. “I just headed north.”

Wisconsin—this part of it anyway—was always a good place to go and feel you were away from the rest of the world in Jesse’s opinion.

He relished the soft warm feel of her body against him, the fragrance of her hair drifting to him. “You’re safe here.”

“Yes,” she agreed in a quiet voice, “but I can’t stay forever.”

* * * *

Why did the timing have to be so ironic, Kerin wondered. At any other point in her life she had a feeling she would be elated to have met what she was beginning to suspect was a really incredible man. In terms of time, he should be a stranger, but it didn’t feel that way. Yes, they were still exploring each other lives, digging out little facts as they talked, but—the fabulous physical part of it aside—she felt like she
knew
him somehow.

Now she’d just cried all over him, told him what was going on in her life, and he merely held her and looked thoughtful rather than treat her like the police had, which was with a mental lifted brow and a shrug. She didn’t precisely blame local law enforcement because they
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were overworked enough as things were with crimes that had already been committed, but she’d certainly felt let down.