The Guarded Widow (16 page)

Then he backed away quickly, as though she’d burned him.

Olivia struggled to regain her emotions. Desire now warred within her, the anger she’d experienced only moments ago completely obliterated. When she finally spoke, her voice was dead calm.

“I came here, to your room, to give you a letter I‘d received in the mail a few weeks ago. It’s from the company Tom had worked for. I had completely forgotten about it until now. So in light of recent circumstances, I thought I should probably give it to you.”

Vexed, she threw the letter on the bed and stomped to the door. Gripping the door knob in her hand, she turned to snarl at him.

“Now, I’m going down in MY basement to get out MY Christmas decorations so that I can decorate MY HOUSE!”

Then, with as much strength as she could muster, Olivia slammed the guest room door shut behind her.

A slow grin spread across Gavin’s face as he listened to her stomp down the staircase.

“That is one passionate woman,” he muttered, reaching across the bed to pick up the letter.
 

He had never failed at anything in his life and was certainly not going to start now. The thought of spending the next fifty years of his life, rotting away, inside some federal prison because of some woman, pissed him off. The authorities had been sniffing around Viccerroy Malpractice Group for months now, without finding any hard evidence to support their suspicions, and then one damned email off an old computer hard drive allowed them to make a link between him and the late Tom Jones.

“I will not lose everything I’ve worked for,” he vowed, looking down at the sore, bruised bite mark on his arm while driving across the
New York
state line.

“I’m going to have to motivate Olivia Jones in some other way.”

He’d been gripped by an urgent need to pull up stakes for awhile.

I’ll be back for her, he promised with a grisly smile. And when I kill Olivia Jones, I’ll enjoy every second of it.

When Gavin eventually came downstairs in search of Olivia, he couldn’t believe how many boxes of Christmas decorations she’d carried up from the basement, alone. And that, in and of itself, was what irritated him as he crept part way down the basement stairs and watched her, earnestly trying to drag a huge heavy box across the basement floor. That is one hard headed woman, he mused.

Shaking his head, he continued the rest of the way down the steps to help her.

She only looked up at him and glared.

“I didn’t ask for any help, Gavin.”

Ignoring her pithy comment, he easily lifted the box onto a broad shoulder and carried it up the steps. After returning to the basement, he asked, “Anything else?”

Olivia cast him a cool glance.

“No! That’s the last of it,” she huffed out, making him chuckle under his breath.

She’s still mad; he thought with a shake of his head and began wandering around the entire expanse of the basement. He glanced at her again, her expression was mutinous.

In an attempt to break the ice, he asked with a teasing grin on his face. “Do we still need to go Christmas shopping?”

Recognizing his desire to call a truce and being the type of person, who could never stay mad long, Olivia grinned, more than pleased to show him the answer. Smiling smugly, she practically danced over to a large padlocked storage unit. Gavin watched her as she gleefully pulled a key out of her pocket, opened the lock and lifted the lid.

“I pride myself on being organized. I need to have all the gifts purchased and wrapped by Thanksgiving Day. All I have to do yet is take the boys on their Christmas tree hike and prepare a Christmas dinner.”

Gavin gave her an appreciative smile. “Thank God, I hate to shop.”

Still marveling over her exceptional organizational skills, he squatted down to peruse the myriad collection of colorfully wrapped gifts.

“So when will we go on this tree hike?”

Olivia arched a brow at him. She wasn’t used to the “we” aspect of him staying there yet.

“We, have basketball tonight, although I’m sure you’re well aware of that. To be honest, the boys and I just started this new tradition after Tom passed away. We usually go on our hike and trim the tree on Christmas Eve; it’s a great way to start off the holiday.”

She relocked the storage unit and turned.

“I’ll make us some lunch before I start decorating the house.”

“I’ll be up in a minute,” Gavin replied, watching her disappear up the stairs.

As he stood there, looking at the empty stairwell, he reluctantly acknowledged the strange sensations constricting his chest.

“I think I’m falling for her,” he muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

After all these years, how did I manage to get hung up on a sassy woman with four kids?

With that final thought, he followed Olivia upstairs to join her for lunch.

The boys returned home from school extremely excited to see their new house guest, making their mother feel like chopped liver as she watched her sons talk endlessly with Gavin. While she gave them their after school snacks, she informed them of the basketball game scheduled for the night.

“Are you coming too?” Michael asked Gavin before he ran upstairs to get changed.

“I am the referee,” he replied, laughing at the pleased expression on Michael’s face.

“Can I sit beside you in the car?” Luke asked, shoving the last of his granola bar into his mouth.

Overhearing that question, Olivia looked directly at Gavin. She’d never considered they would go everywhere together, all of them as one unit. She needed to protect her children, didn’t want them growing too attached to Gavin because one day in the very near future he’d walk back out of their lives. She didn’t want the boys considering him part of their family and eventually being crushed. She could tell they liked having him there. A lot!

Gavin saw the hesitancy in her eyes and said to Luke.

“Let me talk to your, Mom.”

“I need to talk to you, right now, in the garage,” she huffed, stalking by him.

He obligingly followed her out. “What’s wrong, Olivia?”

She took a deep breath. “I guess I just realized people are going to find out that you’re staying here. It will look as though…well, they will think that we are …”

Gavin crossed his arms over his chest as he listened to her struggle with her words, and then interrupted her.

“Given the circumstances, I’m sure people will understand why a police officer is staying with you and your children.”

She looked into his eyes. “I just don’t think we should go everywhere together. I don’t want us pretending to be a family. That would also be confusing for the boys and I don’t want people thinking we’re together. It just looks bad.”

Gavin clenched his jaw, suddenly sensing annoyance and frustration threatening to erupt.

“Fine, then you can follow me there,” he snapped, striding out of the garage.

The two opposing teams were still practicing on the court when Gavin blew the whistle to start the game. Why was I so annoyed with her in the garage? He wondered, watching the boys disperse and hurry over to their respective teams. He understood her concern for her sons’ well being, but still felt irrationally irritated.

Seconds later, he realized why.

It dawned on him as he watched Jeff Masters approach Olivia. She doesn’t want to give other people or better yet, other men, the wrong impression about us.

Coach Rathton waved at Gavin to let him know they were ready to start the game. After one final glance at Olivia and Jeff, he threw the ball into the air to initiate the tip off. He didn’t like what he saw.

Annoyed that Jeff had once again managed to plant himself directly beside her, Olivia decided to ignore him, doing her best to keep her attention focused on the game.

But Jeff was compelled to make an earnest attempt at conversation and when she didn’t respond adequately, he began to feel frustrated.

She keeps watching Rafferty, Jeff silently brooded.

With only a few minutes of the game remaining, he decided it was time to obtain her undivided attention. So he slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her over toward him, whispering in her ear.

“Olivia, I heard about all your troubles.”

Although it grated Jeff when her body tensed in response to his close proximity, it did help his ego to see Gavin pause, mid stride, to watch them.

“I also heard a rumor this could be related to Tom,” he said, noting Gavin’s repeated glances in their direction. “I’d like to privately speak with you about a job I’d done for Tom. It was years ago, when your house was being renovated.”

Her head whipped around before he’d finished uttering his last word.

I’ve got her attention now, he snidely thought.

“Do you want to find a quiet place to talk?”

Olivia didn’t need to be asked twice. She was already on her feet, hurriedly making her way down the bleachers.

Just as Jeff was about to follow her out of the gymnasium, he turned around and deliberately flashed an antagonizing smile directly at the referee.

By the time the game ended, Gavin was furious.

Masters purposely bated me with that departing smile. He knew I’d be wondering why Olivia left with him.

On his way out of the gym, he stopped and laid a hand on Tommy’s shoulder.

“I’m going to go find your Mom and then we’ll head back to the house. Round up your brothers,” he commanded before he striding out.

Where is she? Gavin fumed as he rounded the last hallway, prepared to take his search

outdoors. He found them, in a dimly lit corner of the hallway corridor, deeply engrossed in private conversation.

Jeff was hovering over her, with one hand braced up against the wall, partially blocking Olivia from his view. At just a few feet away from them, Gavin overheard her say, “Thank you so much for telling me Jeff.”

Already pissed, his temper completely erupted when he saw her stiffen as Jeff moved in and embraced her.

So being the level headed man that he was, Gavin ushered fair warning.

“Back away from her, Masters!”

Instead of heeding the warning, Jeff flashed a cocky smile and foolishly decided to swing an arm over her shoulders. He’d just turned to address the man who approached them, when Gavin’s hand shot out.

Gavin grabbed Jeff’s arm and violently spun him off Olivia.

Gaping in shock, she helplessly watched as Jeff Masters flew up against the exposed brick wall.

“Gavin Rafferty, what in the world is wrong with you?” she demanded, furiously.

Jeff regained his footing and now faced Gavin with rage contorting his normally laid back features. Olivia, having made a quick assessment of the situation, and realized how poorly this could end for both parties, began frantically tugging on Gavin’s arm.

“Let go of me,” he warned, keeping his eyes on Jeff. “Olivia, go pack up the boys and head back to the house. I’ll be right behind you.”

Glaring up at him, she heatedly stated, “Gavin Rafferty, you have no right to…”

Jeff Masters had been waiting for his window of opportunity to open. When it did, he took it by lunging forward and swinging. Only, Gavin merely sidestepped him, and landed a direct hit deep within Jeff’s soft abdomen.

Hauling him up against the brick wall, Gavin glared into Jeff’s enraged face, and without bothering to even look at her, demanded a second time that Olivia gather up the kids and go home.

Thoroughly embarrassed by his outrageous behavior, Olivia parked the SUV in the garage and stalked right back out the open garage door and stood, with her hands on her hips, in the middle of the driveway.

Seconds later Gavin’s truck appeared, slowly drifting up to the house. He’d barely finished engaging the emergency brake when she stormed over and whipped open the driver’s side door.

He just sat there inside the dimly lit cabin, casually watching her while she railed at him.

“Gavin Rafferty! You had no idea what was going on when you found us, in that hallway! Jeff had just finished telling me that he’d installed some kind of hidden safe in the house when it was being renovated. He’d felt compelled to share that information with me, given the fact that someone had recently attacked me in my own home.”

She angrily slammed her hand on the hood of his truck.

“What is wrong with you?”

He’d been prepared to apologize to her. Just as he’d been prepared to land a fist into Masters’ snide face, at least until Jeff had the intelligence to spill the information he’d shared with Olivia. But now as she stood there before him, with her hazel eyes a darker shade of green and spitting fire, he chose a different means to an end and slowly slid his tall frame out of the truck.