Queen (34 page)

Little did Cody know, however, that his past was not quite behind him.

Lenore Whittier was furious. She'd paid an inept fool an exorbitant amount of money just to be told what she already knew. Queen Houston had insinuated herself into Cody's life to the point that he had proposed marriage. Short of murder, there wasn't a thing Lenore could do to stop it. Fortunately for all concerned, she had not considered that option.

Weeks had come and gone, and during that time she hadn't been able to come up with one thing that might discredit the woman who was trying to take Claire's place. It never occurred to Lenore that Queen had made a place of her own, that she wasn't usurping that of anyone who'd gone before her.

"I won't have it," Lenore mumbled, pacing her bedroom, which overlooked a terraced backyard, ignoring the lush beauty of her Florida home. "There must be something I've overlooked. How can a total stranger come into a family's life and take over as if…"

Suddenly a thought surfaced. She'd gone about this from the wrong angle. She shouldn't have concentrated her efforts on what the woman was doing now. What she should have checked on was where she had come from… what her background was before she arrived in Snow Gap.

Lenore hurried to the phone, flipped through the directory to find the heading Morrow Investigations, and squinted as she punched in the numbers. Even at home when there was no one to see her, she was too vain to wear glasses.

"Morrow Investigations… Wally Morrow speaking."

Wally kicked back on his chair and used his desk for a footrest as he propped the phone between his shoulder and chin.

"Mr. Morrow, this is Lenore Whittier."

Instinctively Wally's feet hit the floor and he swiped at the spot on his desk where his shoes had been, although the woman on the other end of the line could not see the condition of his office.

"Yes, Mrs. Whittier, what can I do for you?" Wally asked, all the while wishing her into the next level of hell. It had been weeks since he'd closed the case in Colorado, and he was still sitting on a cushion, thanks to his bout with that crazy Bonner man who'd thrown him on his ass. In spite of three different doctors' assurances to the contrary, he still swore his tailbone was broken.

Lenore told him what she wanted.

"This is gonna cost you," Wally said. "I'll have travel expenses… and, of course, hazardous pay. This has been a risky case."

"I don't care what it costs, just get me the information I asked for. I want it within the next three days."

"No way," he said. "I'll be lucky to just get a plane out if then. This is already the holiday season. Travel is at a premium due to Thanksgiving, you know."

"I'm well aware of the holiday, thank you. What you don't seem to understand is that this is not a holiday trip. I want my information and I want it immediately. I'll expect to hear from you soon."

She hung up the phone and missed the virulent string of curses that Wally left hanging in midsentence as the wire went dead.

"Dumb bitch," he muttered as he hung up the receiver. "She wants her miracles prepackaged and yesterday. I'll get to Tennessee and in my own time."

But the threat was for effect only. Wally had already dialed his travel agent and was mentally packing what he would need for an overnight stay in Cradle Creek, Tennessee.

Queen couldn't sleep. The feeling she'd awakened with this morning was increasing at an alarming rate. It had been there, lurking just beyond consciousness, when she'd gotten up and dressed. All through breakfast she'd felt the pressure building, and even though the boys' loud, boisterous behavior had sidetracked her momentarily, when they left for school it had come back full force.

She'd spent a miserable morning, unable to function, just waiting for Cody's return from the camp. And when he'd come through the door with a smile on his face and a weary but satisfied announcement that the first group of trainees had come and gone, she'd had to force herself not to crawl away and hide. Instead she'd listened while he commented on the various successes as well as the slight changes in the system that they would adopt for the next group of men scheduled to arrive the Monday after Thanksgiving.

She'd all but held her breath until the boys had burst into the house, wild with the excitement of a two-day holiday from school. At least they were home. Whatever she feared had yet to come.

The busywork of getting a meal prepared and served took precedence, but it was all she could do to cope. She dropped a bottle of ketchup and broke a glass, then finally left the kitchen near tears. She left Cody with the ordeal of getting the boys clean and into bed.

He wanted to linger after supper, to share his excitement about the camp and talk about plans for their future and the upcoming wedding, and she pleaded a headache instead.

Shame made her stay in her room when she'd wanted to go back downstairs and apologize, to confess her feelings and share the fear. But she hadn't, and now it was past midnight and terror had all but engulfed her.

She threw back her covers, got out of bed, and crept to the window. The curtains were pulled to ward against the cold drafts of Colorado winter, and she pushed them aside with trembling fingers, afraid to look, afraid not to. If another disaster was coming, she wanted to be upright and ready, not flat on her back and a willing victim.

She stared out into the nearly pitch-black night, remembering another day when she'd had the same feeling and ignored it. The day when Virgil Stratton had nearly ended her life.

But there was nothing to be seen beyond the perimeter of the yard. The security light on the tall pole at the back of the house could only do so much, and tonight, without the aid of moonlight, its weak beam was ineffective. Whatever was there was beyond the visible, hidden either by shadows or a span of miles, waiting for its time to come.

She shivered, suddenly needing to feel Cody's arms around her. Because of the children, they'd agreed not to share a bedroom until their marriage. Now she bolted for Cody's room. She just needed to know that if something was coming, she would not face it alone.

The hallway was cold, and she was thankful for Will's birthday gift, a long flannel nightgown. It was long sleeved, with the hem just above her toes, and the color was a very warm, outrageous shade of red. Will had loved it, and Queen wore it faithfully, abandoning it only on nights when it was in the laundry.

With her long mane of hair in its nightly braid, and her face scrubbed and devoid of makeup, she looked like a lanky child making a dash for her parents' room in fright, until one looked closer and saw the curvaceous body hidden beneath red flannel, the generous breasts beneath the tiny white buttons and lace at the nightgown's enclosure.

Her hand touched the doorknob to his room. It turned at her command and she slipped inside, closing it quickly behind her in a sudden shiver of fright.

"Cody?"

He came awake in seconds, the fear in her voice bringing him into focus, and in that moment something made him remember her odd behavior earlier in the evening. He'd wanted to urge her to confidence and then hadn't, telling himself that women needed their space just like everyone else, thinking that he and the boys had possibly done nothing worse than get on her nerves.

"What? Are you sick, darling? Is one of the boys…?"

"I'm afraid."

He was out of bed in an instant, his arms around her, his body still warm from the bed and sleep as it encompassed hers. His heartbeat thumped a welcome beneath her cheeks as she pressed her face against his bare chest. His pajama bottoms were brown and old and hung on his slim hips with comfortable tenacity.

"What frightened you, baby? Did you hear something? Get in my bed to stay warm while I go check."

His voice was soft and low and wrapped around her like a blanket. She sighed and relaxed within his embrace. It had been right to come. Already she felt better just knowing she wasn't alone in the dark.

"It isn't that. I'm sorry," she said, and slid her arms around his waist. "I'm just being silly, and you're going to freeze."

"Then come to bed with me," Cody urged.

He felt her hesitation and loved her for the thoughtfulness. She always put the boys' needs ahead of her own desires. No one wanted her in his bed more than Cody did, but she'd been adamant about the decision to stay in her own room. Even though they were officially engaged, three boys, all under the age of consent, needed to see all the right examples, and she was determined to set her share.

"Just for a bit," he added. "You're shivering. And your feet are bare." He tugged at her braid in a gentle, teasing gesture. "All those handmade house shoes you received as presents and you still run around in bare feet."

"Old habits die hard, Cody," she said. "When you grow up without luxuries, it's hard to remember you have them now."

He frowned, thinking how much he took for granted. Imagine house shoes being a luxury! He scooped her off her feet, carried her back to his bed, and plopped her down.

When she was warm, and he'd quit flinching at the reel of her bare toes seeking warmth up the length of his legs, he cuddled her, spoon fashion, his front to her back, and rested his chin on top of her head while he found the spot below her breasts that he'd discovered long ago. He knew if he touched lightly enough, he could feel the rush of her blood beneath his fingertips. It made him realize how fragile the human body truly was and marvel constantly at how tenaciously she'd clung to life when life had nearly given up on her.

"Talk to me, honey. Did you have a bad dream?" He stroked her body, his hands sliding up and down the soft flannel over her arms as he hugged her close. "Believe me, if you did, I would understand. Thanks to you and a little help from the base doctor, I'm more or less past mine, but could it be that you're suffering some after effects of—"

"It's not that."

The tone of her voice as well as the way she went stiff in his arms warned him there was more to come. He heard tears as well as fear and hated whoever had put them there.

"Then tell me, Queen. Remember… you can tell me anything. I'll always understand."

She sighed. "It's hard to explain," she said, keeping her voice low so that the sound of their conversation would not disturb the sleeping trio just down the hall.

"I'm listening."

"I know," she said. "It's just that it's hard to find words that fit what I feel." She took a deep breath, knowing that what she would say was going to sound crazy. "I think something bad is going to happen."

Cody grinned. "Are you telling me you're psychic? Oh, great! I'll never have a secret from you as long as we live."

As long as we live. Those words were just what she needed to hear. It made the rest of what she had to say easier.

"I'm not psychic," she said, and lightly kicked his shin for teasing her.

He felt her body tremble beneath his fingers as she continued, trying to explain what had sent her into his arms.

"It's just that… sometimes I get a feeling… I can't explain it, or tell you why. The best way I can describe it is, sometimes when I'm not expecting it, the world sort of… shifts. Like everything looks and sounds normal but isn't quite… Do you know what I mean? Whatever it is, I always have this feeling just before something bad happens. When Virgil Stratton came, I was afraid like this all day."

Cody grew solemn, thinking about her alone and afraid, and hugged her closer, still slightly ashamed that she'd endured what she had because of his absence.

"Honey, it sounds to me like you're describing an instinct for survival. I knew soldiers who used to tell war stories of similar situations. Of how they'd suddenly know when they were about to be attacked even though everything looked and felt normal."

She sighed. "Whatever it is… I know something's coming… and…" Her voice sank to a whisper and she clung to him, trying to let herself be absorbed by his strength. "And I'm so afraid."

"Whatever it is, we'll face it together. Remember that. You never have to face anything else alone as long as you live."

"Oh, Cody," she whispered.

He felt her relax, and a few minutes later as her feet warmed, and her breathing slowed, he knew that she slept. He held her close, savoring the feel of her body aligned with his, knowing that his life was all the richer from the gift of her love and that she'd given him something she'd never shared with another living soul: her trust.

But hours later he was still awake, staring blindly at the shadows around the room, and then, still later, at the first faint light of daybreak. He knew that what she'd told him last night had reawakened some of the same fears that he'd lived with since he'd learned that they were being investigated.

Granted the man who had been doing the investigation was gone. But that didn't tell him who had hired him or why.

Queen sighed and stretched and then turned in her sleep. When her face came against his chest and her arm slid lightly across him in sleep, he couldn't control the urge he had to grab her and hold on for dear life. What or who was trying to intrude in his world?

He held her, afraid to take guesses, afraid he already knew. She nuzzled against him, and he smiled, shoving his own fears back into the shadows where they belonged. It was morning and time to greet the new day and his lady.

He loved her awake and then made love until her eyes closed again, only this time in passion. This time when she cried it was from joy, and when she went from his bed to her own, she wasn't running in fear. She was warm from the fulfillment of love and being loved. It was a good way to start a day.

"Hell!"

It was the best and only description Wally Morrow could give to Cradle Creek, Tennessee. He'd reached the city limits in his rental car, expecting at any time to see more than what was there. But he'd been disappointed and, as he drove on, shocked to discover that what he had seen was all he was going to get.

The homes looked like something that had been dug up from the bowels of the earth along with the coal he knew was here and then abandoned… a slag heap of houses that were Cradle Creek.