Blindsided (10 page)

“Speak for yourself. Now I’ll have to eat my own cooking again.”

He tried for a light tone but fell a little flat. “Unless, of course, you
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want to make a trade.”

Her smooth brow furrowed. “A trade?”

“You give me cooking lessons and I’ll continue your

enlightenment in other areas to the utmost of my ability.”

She stared at him uncertainly. Blonde hair fell like silk across her shoulders and her slender legs were curled under her. “I wish I could stay, but—”

“But you can’t, I know. Feel free to say no, but I wondered if maybe I could go back with you. I have another week of vacation planned anyway, and could take more time if I wanted.”

Please, don’t say no. Please, please, please…

As the chant echoed in his brain, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, he was definitely in love with her. Head over heels, a goner, the proverbial dead duck of all of the clichés, and more. He found he even held his breath as he waited for her answer.

A small, tremulous smile curved her mouth. “I’ve been sitting here thinking about how to ask you just that. It’s too much…I’ve imposed on you already, and God knows what’s happening in my life, but—”

Relief washed over him, so strong it was a bit frightening. “I’ve been sitting around trying to think of how I can get you to stay. In that light, I don’t think imposition is the right word. Besides, I’m picturing you walking alone back into whatever is going on and it bothers the hell out of me. I’d feel better if I was there for a while. Maybe together we can make some sense of it all.”

A hand lifted to push her hair back from her cheek and he noticed it shook a little. “You’re trying for some knight in shining armor award, aren’t you? Fine, you have my vote already. You don’t have to do this.”

“Problem is, babe, I
want
to do it.”

* * * *

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Did he have the slightest idea what he did to her?

It could be all the stress, the romantic trapped-in-the-snowbound-cabin scenario, the fact he was gorgeous, smart, and considerate, not mention a fantastic lover, but Kerin felt as if she was seriously out of her depth.

Maybe it was the sexy, lumberjack look with his tousled dark hair and rugged clothes still damp with snow. Damn it, she even thought his nose being a bit red from the cold outside was attractive.

If Jesse went back to Indiana with her it made the idea of it at least palatable. She wouldn’t have to leave him, and she knew she’d feel a lot safer. He just seemed so capable, and she worked in an environment where there were plenty of confident men. The medical profession oozed them out the seams, so it wasn’t that quality alone that drew her.

No, it was something else. It was just
him
.

And now he wanted to come back with her. Another week in his arms sounded like heaven.

Except she could be headed back to hell.

“It isn’t a fair trade,” she said, the flux of her feelings making her throat tight. “A beautiful secluded cabin for a house in the suburbs and all day by yourself while I work? As soon as I get within range of a tower I going to have them start rescheduling the appointments we had to cancel, not to mention the patients I am sure have called in the meantime. Usually my schedule is full a month or more out, so I’ll have some long days ahead of me.”

Jesse raised his brows. “I’m a big boy. I can entertain myself.”

“It seems like too much to ask. You came up here for solitude.”

“You didn’t ask, I offered. Besides, I plan on it being worth my while.” His mouth twitched into a devastatingly attractive smile. “As far as solitude goes, if you left and I stayed here like I planned, I have a feeling I’d be a little lonely. I never have been before, but I think things have changed.”

She thought things had changed, too. It was all too fast, and
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warning bells should be going off all over the place, but all she felt was relieved and a kind of inner euphoria she wouldn’t think was possible with the turmoil and fear she’d faced in the past two months.

“If you’re sure, then yes, consider yourself invited.”

* * * *

No wonder he thought she might be a keeper. The woman could make the most amazing things of out the simple ingredients he bought for his usual bland standbys. She’d taken bacon, onions, potatoes, milk and cheese along with a can of chicken broth and made a fantastic soup. To go with it, Kerin had used refrigerated biscuits and added garlic and butter in some way that the smell of them baking had him hovering in the kitchen, until she’d shooed him out.

A beautiful doctor who could cook and was more than

enthusiastic in bed?

Yep, seventh heaven wrapped up in one delicious package.

Jesse finished his second bowl of soup, polished off another biscuit, and then sighed in contentment. “You could open a restaurant on that one.”

She just looked amused, sitting across from him by the fireplace.

“You really are a hopeless bachelor. It’s potato soup, Jesse.”

“It’s out of this world potato soup,” he corrected, leaning over to take her empty bowl. “I’ll do the dishes and then we’ll talk, okay?”

The contentment vanished from her expression, but she nodded.

He went over and took care of cleaning up the kitchen, opened a bottle of wine, and took it and two glasses back into the main room.

He poured her a glass first and handed it over. “Here. We’re just going to relax and discuss the situation.”

Dark blue eyes gave him a straightforward look as she accepted the glass. “Care to clarify?”

He knew exactly what she was asking. Jesse settled back into his chair. “We’ll talk about us later. I want to talk about everything that’s
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happened with you in the past two months. Well, make that three or four.”

Us
.

It had a nice sound. He liked saying it.

“I think I’ve told you everything I know. The truth is, I don’t know
anything
. Yet my house was wired so someone could spy on me. Someone has illegally entered it and I’m convinced I’m being followed. Otherwise, unless you count the smashed food bowl on the back deck and Artemis being gone, I guess there isn’t much.”

“You see, I think you’re wrong.” He took a sip from his glass and let the pause hang. “
Something
is important. To someone else, apparently it’s a threat. It seems to me they’re trying to gather information.”

Her lips parted and she obviously thought it over, a haunted look on her face. “Maybe. I suppose you could be right. But it isn’t helpful if I have no idea what it might be.”

“That’s why we should brainstorm a little about it. Talk to me.

Tell me anything unusual that has happened, even if you didn’t think much of it at the time. Maybe it’s something with a patient, like I suggested earlier.”

“I see a lot of them. Besides, it’s all confidential. What you tell your doctor stays in the exam room.”

“Someone may not trust that.”

“They should. I didn’t invest eleven years of my life in getting my medical license to lose it because of the something like a confidentiality violation.”

The forcefulness of her statement made him a believer, but if someone out there was paranoid or had something life-shattering to lose, well, it could be the source of the vague threat.

Kerin went on, the flickering firelight playing over her pale shining hair. “And think about it, what do you tell your internist that the world can’t know? My job is usually to try and steer patients toward the best specialist possible if the problem isn’t an obvious one
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from the initial tests.”

“Lots of people want to keep the fact they’re sick to themselves.”

“Maybe, but they don’t usually break into their doctor’s home.

Besides, I can’t think of anyone who stands out. I’m literally at a loss.”

So was he. But he was also determined. Jesse narrowed his eyes a little, listening as the furnace kicked on. It was still damn cold outside. “What about anything else. An unfriendly neighbor, a friend who is acting oddly, a disgruntled colleague? It’s got to be there, Kerin.”

She looked bewildered and shook her head. “I’m telling you, I’ve thought a lot about this. I’ve done nothing
but
think about this and I can’t come up with a single thing.”

“What about the people you talk to regularly, the ones you e-mail, who you meet when you go out for dinner?”

“My family and friends are as innocuous as I am as far as I’m aware. My parents are retired and live in Florida, my brother is an accountant in Virginia, and most of my friends are people I work with. To tell you the truth, we don’t have time to go out much.

Everyone works long hours. Socializing isn’t a big part of our schedule. The ones who have families are even less inclined. Like I told you, I mostly go to work and to unwind, I have a quiet evening at home.”

Jesse pondered the fire over the rim of his glass. “I think what bothers me the most is the nature of the harassment. It isn’t everyone who knows how to circumvent an alarm system or plant a listening device.”

“I know.”

“The missing cat and the broken bowl are more the work of a thug, but the rest of it is pretty sophisticated.”

The woman across from him said nothing, just held her glass of wine in her slender fingers.

Kerin was a smart lady and he had the feeling she was as uneasy
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as he was over that aspect of the whole thing.

He was only half-joking when he asked, “You didn’t

inconveniently witness a mob hit or dig a bullet out of someone in the dead of night under duress, did you?”

She laughed, but the small burst of sound had no mirth in it. “See, you do watch television apparently. No, I’m happy to say, I haven’t.

About the closest I can come to that is seeing someone back into a parked car in a restaurant parking lot. Not exactly a high crime.”

“No, I can’t see bugging your house over that one.”

“Me either.” She sounded very subdued and when she looked at him, her lips trembled a little. “I’ll feel so much safer with you there.

Thank you.”

He’d feel so much better being there because he really couldn’t imagine sitting around worrying himself half to death over what might happen. “I’m no detective but maybe I’ll notice something.

Consider me your bodyguard for the next week or two then.”

“That sounds very nice.”

Jesse gave her his best leer. “Your body has become one of my favorite things.”

The attempt at levity was a little lame, but it worked. She laughed and it sounded genuine. “Yours isn’t bad either, since we’re on the subject. You’ll have to come into the office. The nurses give me a hard time about my lackluster love life. One look at you and they’ll all turn green. If they discovered you are also that quintessential nice guy we all look for, you’d need to come armed with a club.”

The double compliment was nice, not that he cared what her nurses thought of his looks, but because
she
thought he was attractive and more than that had enjoyed their being together. He knew it was true, but hearing her say it was an affirmation that if he was falling so quickly—and so hard—for his beautiful houseguest, maybe the feeling was mutual.

“This is our last night here,” he said in a level tone. “Maybe we should take our wine upstairs.”

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“If we get in bed, I doubt we’ll sit there drinking wine.”

“My very plan.” He set his glass aside and got to his feet.

Screw the wine
.

He almost said it out loud. Back in Chicago he could sit around drinking wine all by himself when he had to return. Though he’d never minded the alone part before, it really didn’t seem all that appealing with Kerin as an alternative.

This night signaled the end of their unexpected entrapment. It also hopefully was the beginning of even more.

Making this last evening something she would never forget seemed like a good idea.

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Progress at last. Thea padded across the floor into the bathroom, shut the door, and flipped open her cell phone.

Yeah, that
was
a good picture.

God bless technology.

The meeting had been little more than a brush of one man against the other but she’d caught it their brief exchange.

The damning juxtaposition would be hard to deny, as long as she could get the photo sent and erase it quickly. Having it saved on her cell was like putting a hand grenade in your pocket and having your twitchy finger around the ring.

Hopefully Rob’s new e-mail address hadn’t been traced yet.

If it had, she might be screwed.

No. Correction. The more she knew about Nathan Henderson, the more she was convinced she’d be screwed in a very deadly way.

She went over and flushed the toilet, then slipped her phone back into her purse. At least she’d gotten a chance to check the results of this night’s work and it hadn’t been for nothing that she’d put up with another night in some only marginal chain restaurant, waiting for something that might or might not happen.

But then again, in the name of love, people did unusual things.

This was third clandestine meeting she’d recorded. Not firm proof but maybe it was time to try Henderson’s computer.

That would take some nerve, because she was going to have to disable the system to get in. She had a code, but if she used it, they could trace her.

Damn it.

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* * * *

The house looked as ordinary as always. Brick façade, two story, with a landscaped yard now covered with a light dusting of snow and empty driveway. Kerin pushed a button on the visor of her car and the garage door began to slowly go up. She pulled in and Jesse parked his truck on the other side but not in the garage itself.

It would be obvious she had a visitor and maybe it was just as well. She felt nervous over the situation, but then again, better at the same time.