Heart of the Hunter (4 page)

The wind stirred, nudged her gently at first, then whipped the full skirt of her dress about her knees, and tangled in her hair. She was glad of the diversion as she hurried to the piazza. She was almost at the first step when a melodic gong summoned her to the garden gate.

“Now who?” she questioned as she retraced her steps over the patterned brick walk. Not a delivery, certainly. Bouquets and gifts wishing her well with the sale would've arrived days ago and at the gallery, not here. Friends and customers had already called in droves, afterward, celebrating her success, until even the most obtuse realized she needed rest and time to herself. Graciously they'd given her exactly that. Time and rest.

So one had decided it was time her self-imposed exile be ended.

Annabelle, of course. Only she would risk a drenching on such a Quixotic mission. Nicole smiled as she imagined the shapely little woman struggling with her voluminous skirt in the wind and weather. But not too hard. Annabelle believed with all her heart that a glimpse of a well-turned ankle, or thigh and maybe a bit of sexy lace was good for the soul. Hers, and what ever kindred souls were nearby. Masculine souls, naturally.

Nicole's amusement lingered as she hurried down the walk that narrowed to a single lane as it neared the street. She hadn't realized before, but, given the turn of her thoughts, Annabelle was exactly what she needed. It was impossible to be moody, or sad or even afraid when she was near.

Lightning flickered overhead. One small flash across a darkened sky, and then another. But long enough to burn the image of her caller into her mind and send it reeling again into the past.

Stopping abruptly a pace away from the gate, Nicole grasped an iron spire as she stared through it to the sidewalk. With graceful spirals and swirls imbued with the strength created by a master ironworker a century before, the gate offered physical protection, but no visual restraint. The man who waited beyond it was clearly visible and unmistakably as handsome as she remembered.

When he smiled at her she was fifteen all over again. With a pounding heart and a tongue that struggled for words.

“Jeb,” she managed to say at last. “I didn't expect you.” Then, foolishly, “You didn't call.”

“No.” He shook his head. There were creases across his forehead, from the sun. They weren't there before.

“What are you doing here?” She hated sounding for all the world as if she were still a gawky kid.

“A spur-of-the-moment impulse.” Jeb's gaze swept over her windblown hair, the uncertain smile, the simple dress that left her shoulders bare and hid the cleft of her breasts with lace. His gaze moved on, past her to the garden and the shadowed piazza. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Interrupting?” Nicole frowned and brushed a tangle of bangs from her eyes. “No. Of course not. I'm alone. I, uh...would you like to come in?” She was babbling.

Grimly stepping to the gate, with a twist of the wrist she disarmed the lock and drew it back. “Please.” She gestured as a sharp gust sent a crape myrtle swaying and scattered scarlet petals over the grass. “Come in before you're soaked.”

Jeb hadn't missed the frown, nor the hesitance in her voice. “A little rain won't hurt me, so maybe another time would be better.”

If she agreed, taking the excuse he offered, he would have to find another way in. A secret way.

But she didn't take the excuse. Instead, she caught up his hand, tugged him inside. “Don't be silly. I was distracted, that's all. I'm glad you've come. I think it's good that you have.”

Jeb's eyes narrowed, suspicion skittered like a serrated knife over raw nerves. But when he spoke his tone was a teasing drawl at odds with the truth. “Do you now?”

“Yes, I do.”

A thumb and forefinger at her chin lifted her face to his. He'd looked into this face countless times in the past weeks. He'd seen her smile and laugh. He'd seen her frown. Once, when she'd found a kitten washed on shore from God knew where, he could've sworn he saw her cry. He thought he knew every mood, but he'd never seen her as she was now. Solemn, restive, her eyes fathomless.

Was it fear he saw? Excitement? Danger?

Did Tony Callison wait beyond the gate for him? For both of them?

“Why, Nicky?” he asked, using the name only he had used in the days when they were friends. When he hadn't watched her for any nuance of guilt or warning. When, as now, he'd seen only innocence.

Absently he stroked her chin, a knuckle gliding over skin like pearls. “Tell me,” he insisted in a voice as low as a whisper. “Tell me why you're glad I've come.”

“Because...” Nicole clenched her teeth, holding back words he mustn't hear. She needed to think, needed to be rational. But she couldn't. Not when he looked at her with such burning intensity that she felt he was trying to see into her soul. Not when he touched her, and his touch was madness.

With a shiver she barely hid, she moved away, and a semblance of reason returned. She couldn't tell him that after spending a weekend hiding from herself and from him, she'd discovered with one glance that hiding was futile. She couldn't tell him that he'd been the love of her young life, and when he left, he'd taken her heart with him. She couldn't in a lifetime tell him how much she'd hurt, and how long.

She couldn't tell him. She'd thought for years that it was all behind her, but now, she wasn't sure. She knew now what she'd been afraid of. What frightened her still—that she would love him again, or that she'd never stopped, and might not survive losing him again.

She couldn't tell him she was glad when she saw him at her gate, because hiding was truly not her way. She was a fighter. No matter how fierce or how frightening, she'd learned to face her problems. Those she couldn't conquer, she lived with in peace.

She couldn't tell him that when he smiled at her, she wondered if there would ever be peace in her life again.

No, she couldn't tell him.

Drawing a long breath, with a wobbly smile, she took his hand. “I'm glad you're here, because you were the best friend I ever had, and I've missed you.”

She didn't wait for a reply as she led him down the walk.

With his hand in hers, Jeb went warily with her to her home. Hoping she was as innocent as she seemed, but brutally conscious it could mean his life, if she weren't.

There was caution in every guarded step he took, his darting gaze probing, seeking, finding nothing. The courtyard was small and open and, even filled with plants, it offered no place to hide. Like the courtyard, the piazza was capable of no surprises. The house, a Charleston single, so called because its rooms were arranged in a single row with one opening into the next, was a different matter.

Guardedly, hand itching for the pistol holstered at his ankle, he stepped into the welcoming cool of the first room. The door, another creation of wood and leaded glass, and as striking as that of the gallery, closed at his back with a muted thud. At that moment, as if minding its manners and waiting for a cue, the storm broke with the pent-up fury of a rabid animal.

Ready to move if he must, however he must, Jeb stood barely inside, eyes searching corners of the room and peering through an open door to the next. Watching for shadows that were more than shadow. Listening for sounds of treachery masked by the clatter of rain on the copper clad roof.

Body taut, shoulders rigid, he waited for an attack that never came.

At her look of askance at his stillness, his strange silence, he shrugged and tried to ignore the sweat on his palm, the burning spot in the center of his chest. “Sorry.” His lips quirked in a lazy grin, his eyes were flat, watchful. “I was admiring the room. I don't know what I expected, but I like it. It's pleasing, comfortable. You must enjoy it.”

That much was true. Nicole had blended antique furnishings with modern, light woods with dark. Another time, under different circumstances, the effect would've, indeed, been pleasing, a comfort when one needed it. Only someone who loved it could have made it so perfect.

“I've read about the Charleston single, its history, the practicality of its architecture, but I've never seen one.” He lifted an apologetic brow, as if he were hesitant to ask. But one way or another, he would see the rest of the house. He had to be certain Tony Callison did not lie in wait for either of them. “May I?”

Nicole was bewildered by the request. Jeb's field in college had been history, but he'd been an indifferent student, far more interested in the height of the surf than his studies. But that was a long time ago, a lot had changed, and she knew very little about him now. What he'd done with his life. What profession he'd finally chosen, and what circumstances brought him to the Carolina coast and Charleston.

“Of course.” She heard the hint of surprise in her voice, and chided herself that, indifferent or not, history had been his interest, and what place was more deeply steeped in it than Charleston? “This is a typical single, though a bit small if one considers the number of rooms, rather than their size. At the moment there are only three in use. This one, the bedroom, beyond it a study with bath and dressing room incorporated. The upstairs is storage for the gallery.”

As she spoke, she led him through the house, explaining the lack of closets, the towering ceiling. One room after another, upstairs and down, never more than a pace behind, Jeb rifled her home with his searing gaze.

When the tour was ended, he knew she hadn't lied. She was alone. Tony Callison had not hidden in a murky corner, beneath stacks of stored paintings, nor in the crowded antique chifforobe. Only a mouse could have hidden in the uncomplicated house, and from the gleaming orderliness, he doubted a sensible mouse would be tempted.

“As you've probably discovered, the Charleston single was primarily situated so the doors could be opened to the ocean, to let its breezes pass directly through. In our era of air-conditioning, position wouldn't matter so much.” Nicole faltered in her stilted, impromptu lecture. Throughout the tour she suspected he wasn't listening. That his mind was on something else, not the house in which he'd professed such interest. “Jeb, are you sure you really wanted to see and hear all this?”

He smiled down at her, aware that she'd led him back to her bedroom, and that it smelled of jasmine. “I really wanted to see and hear all of it.”

Nicole shook her head. This grew more and more curious. He wanted to see, yet he'd been distracted, less intent on historical characteristic than personal. She could almost think he wanted to see the house simply because it was hers. And that made even less sense.

“Why?” She asked the question she hadn't intended. “I mean, I don't understand your interest.”

“Don't you, Nicole?” He took her hand in his. Her fingers were slender and smooth. When he had expected nails like rapiers, hers were short and practical. Nails that belonged on busy, useful hands. Hands that toiled.

He wondered if the plants that bloomed in summer's profusion about the house were as much the fruition of her labor as this room. Her bedroom. A woman's room, yet one that would welcome a man and give him comfort.

He wondered, and when he looked into her clear, lovely gaze, he wondered more.

“Does it surprise you that I would want to discover all there is to know about an old friend? What you've done with your life, and why. What you want for the future.” His voice sank to a murmur. “When I came to Kiawah, I didn't expect to find such a beautiful woman there. Now that I have, I want to know everything.”

“Kiawah?” Her hand convulsed in his. “How did you know I live on Kiawah? In fact, how did you know that I was here?” By here she meant the single tucked so perfectly and unobtrusively in its quiet little alley. He'd walked only by chance into her gallery, yet he knew so much about her.

A slip, Jeb realized grimly. The sort he rarely made, but not as bad as it could have been. Next time he might not be so lucky. Next time he might lose himself completely in that exquisite gaze.

But there wouldn't be a next time. There couldn't.

“I know because I asked,” he answered with a casualness he didn't feel. A deceptively straightforward answer that left out who and why. “How better to find you?”

Nicole laughed then. A lot was still unexplained, but for the first time, he sounded almost like the old Jeb. Direct, to the point, never taking refuge in social convention. Truthful to a fault.

She still wasn't sure how she should deal with this handsome fantasy from her past. But, for the moment, she wouldn't deal, she would simply enjoy.

A shutter caught by the wind ripped free and banged against a window. In a whirl of skirts Nicole rushed to the great room in time to see it tumble across the lawn. “Oh, dear. Annabelle will never let me forget this. She'd been reminding me for weeks that I needed to repair that shutter. But with the sale and all it entailed, I never seemed to get to it.”

Jeb moved to stand behind her, her subtle perfume filling his lungs as he looked over her shoulder to the courtyard. “Any damage?”

Nicole smoothed her hair behind her ear. “None that really matters. The window didn't break. That's a stroke of luck I don't deserve. It was and, no thanks to me, still is an original set in when the house was constructed during the Antebellum Age. So you see, it survived a great deal. Even my carelessness.”

“I don't imagine you were the first in a hundred years to forget.”

Nicole chuckled. “No, I don't imagine so.”

Turning, she found herself close to him. Too close. His very nearness took her breath away. He was larger now. Broader, harder. The tensile strength of youth had become the rugged, overwhelming power of maturity.

Strength, power, memories—a heady combination. Dangerous. So dangerous.

Instinctively she lifted a hand to his chest. To hold him away? To brace herself? She didn't know which. She couldn't think. There was only his heart beating beneath her palm.