Dearest Enemy (19 page)

 
He'd found her in a lounge chair on the back patio, a shawl across her legs and a battered copy of one of Lucinda’s journals on her lap. He set the box on the ground within her reach.

 
"Why?" she repeated.

"Not away.
Just to Albuquerque for a day or two."

"To do what?"

He lifted her hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on the inside of her wrist. Her pulse jumped and his kept time. "Can you wait for an answer until I get back?"

Her gaze narrowed for an instant, then relaxed as if she'd decided not to question his evasiveness. Her acceptance seemed to warrant a response of some kind.

"It's hard for me to answer because I don't know what's going on."

Her free hand covered his with a warm touch. "Then tell me what you think."

"Look, this doesn't have anything to do with the situation in Blue Sky or what happened to you." He paused as the knot that had been building in his gut ballooned to twice its former size. "It's personal … a problem … I'd rather wait until I know something concrete."

"I've known something's wrong." She pointed to his eyes.
"With those."

He mirrored her gesture. "Those don't miss much."

"So why Albuquerque?"

"I'm going to see an eye guy Eddie Vega set me up with."

"That's good." She swept aside the afghan. "I'm going with you."

"There's nothing you can do. And you need your rest."

"I'm not planning to do anything. I just want to be there."

He stared at her for several minutes, trying to gauge how determined she was so he'd know how to sidetrack her. She returned his gaze with a wide-eyed, unflinching steadiness that told him she would not be swayed.

"You've helped me," she said softly, "now let me help you. If only by being close … just in case you need … someone."

"I need you to be safe."

"Where would I be safer than with you? Let me come along."

He wanted her with him. He could kid himself into thinking it was because he'd be able to watch over her, but the truth was
,
he needed her — her sense of humor, her warmth, her ability to see beyond the next stumbling block, the next jog in the road. And if tomorrow went badly, he might need to borrow from whatever had kept her going underground.

"Okay," he said with a nod. He caught her smile of triumph. "Don't look so pleased at my discomfort."

"Never that, Luc."
She touched his cheek.
"Only because you're letting me come close.
Letting me be where I want to be."

He covered her hand with his. "Let's pack a bag for you and get on the road."

"I can handle that," she said. "Take care of yourself."

"I'd better give my mother some explanation for dragging you away." He smiled sheepishly. "She isn't going to like my kidnaping her prize patient."

"Are you going to tell her the truth?"

Her question was almost a challenge. He helped her to her feet and put an arm around her shoulder. "I'll tell her what I know."

"Then she'll like that you won't be alone."

She touched the corner of his mouth with her lips. He wanted more and turned her soft peck into a lingering kiss that left them clinging to each other as desire and conflicting emotions buffeted them and finally subsided to a slow, manageable tremor.

"Still want to come along?"

She grinned at him.
"More than ever."

"Don't forget — you're sort of incapacitated."

She nudged him in the ribs with her good arm.
"With emphasis on the 'sort of'."

They passed through Blue Sky on their way south. Callie shook her head. "I can't believe how far off course I ended up on my way out of that place."

"You were below ground with no reference points. And you were hurt."

They passed the ruins and the general store in silence. Callie glanced down the slope to The Mansion, but they were going too fast to see much. Luc's situation kept her from asking him to stop.

"Of course.
Nothing is more important than getting to the hospital."

"Thank you."

"Just returning the favor."

"Have you remembered any details of where you were?"

"A few, but they don't make much sense." Thinking about the inevitable made her shiver. "I'll have to go back down."

Luc glanced at her,
then
turned back to the road. He knew that revisiting the scene would trigger memories that might lead them to her attacker, but it wouldn't be fun.

"You’ll be putting yourself through a terrifying experience again,” he said.

"The only way I'm going to get over it is to go down there again on my terms and under my own steam."

"Then I'm going with you."

Callie chuckled.

"What?"

"I go with you. You go with me. This could be habit forming."

"Is that bad?"

Suddenly serious, she shrugged. "Not bad, just strange. I've been on my own a long time. And you and I have been keeping a safe distance between us."

"Not safe
enough,
seems like."

"Who'd have thought," she said

"Who's the J.D. in your life?"

"What makes you think there was one?"

"You're alone by choice, just like me. Who was he?"

"He was an account of mine. I didn't know he was married so at the end it was messy. And I didn't handle it well."

"Not possible."

Callie sighed at the dark memory. "It's true. I was hurt and mortified that I'd fallen for his line. His wife was understandably bitter, but I wasn't prepared for a physical attack on top of the verbal whip lashing. I folded, sold the business to my employees and ran home to Lucinda with my tail between my legs. Not a pretty sight, I can assure you."

No wonder the graffiti had been so upsetting, he thought. "I can't picture you knuckling under."

"I swore it would never happen again."

"Which — falling in love or turning tail?"

"Both." She turned in her seat and watched his profile. "So far, I've broken one of my promises. Let's hope I can keep the second."

"I'd like to help with both."

"But?"

"I have to see what this doctor says."

"Nothing he could say would change things for me."

"It would for me."

"Because you have people depending on you."

He nodded, but kept his eyes on the road ahead. A muscle clenched and unclenched in his jaw. This wasn't easy for him, she knew.

"And you don't want to be responsible for anyone else."

"I can't afford to."

"What if money was no object?"

"Money has nothing to do with it."

"Answer my question."

"Money would provide the family with some security, but we talked about this before."

"Yes we did, but I didn't know then what I know now."

"Which is?"

The university entrance loomed. She pointed out the front window.
"After you see the doctor."

"I don't have an appointment until the morning. We'll get a couple of rooms and have some dinner. You can tell me then."

"A couple of rooms?"
She grinned. "Are you afraid of me?"

"Absolutely."

The irony in his tone was hard to miss, no less than the smile turning up one corner of his mouth.

The rooms were in a small, Spanish-style hotel near the university; they ate dinner in a quiet restaurant nearby. Afterwards, they explored the campus, its paths and gardens, the colonial Spanish revival buildings by one of New Mexico's most illustrious architects. Somewhere around midnight they went back to their rooms.

Two hours later, Callie gave up on sleep. She opened one of a pair of connecting doors. Luc answered her knock on the other and stepped aside to let her into his room.

"I heard you pacing," she said.

"Thin walls."

She pointed to the sofa near the curtained windows. "Let's sit."

She grabbed a throw pillow and placed it across her lap. "Lie down."

Without protest, Luc eased down, resting his head on the pillow with a groan. His long legs dangled over one arm of the couch and his right arm grazed the carpet beside him.

"This sofa was made for short people," Callie said. "Would you be more comfortable on the bed?"

He tipped his head back and eyed her. "Are you propositioning me?"

"Wouldn't think of it, Sheriff.
Not until we see the doctor tomorrow." She passed a finger across his forehead, combing back the shock of hair that hung over his brow. "But after that...."

He took her uninjured hand and kissed the tips of her fingers. "After that you may not care."

"If this … thing … weren't hanging over our heads, how would you feel about a future for us?"

He reached up and pulled her head down for a warm, gentle kiss. "There's more than just 'this thing' to consider."

"Meaning?"

"I just called home. The mining engineer's report came in. Mine's a no-go."

"Why?"

"There isn't enough ore left to make startup worthwhile. And there's the problem of the cyanide. When the mining operation was coming to an end, the operators used cyanide to extract whatever gold was left in the tailings, which were then dumped back into the mine. The cost of cleanup would be prohibitive."

"Is there any danger to the house? More importantly, to anyone living there?"

"Why would you ask that?"

"I found a tunnel leading from the mine to The Mansion’s basement. There's nothing separating them but two wooden doors and maybe a mile’s distance."

He cocked his head back again, causing their glances to meet. "And you discovered this when?"

"During one of my explorations.”

“You were supposed to stay out of there.”

“I figured if the house is mine, so is the tunnel.”

He grimaced.
“Convenient rationalization.”

“I found a small handcar and train tracks. Maybe that's how
your
father and my grandmother found a way to meet — assuming they didn't want anyone to know."

"A pretty good assumption.
I'm sure my father wouldn't have been considered prime marriage material for Lucinda."

"I don't think she felt that way, not until her heart was broken, that is."

"If they'd stayed together you and I would be different people."

"Maybe I’d be your sister...."

"Or a cousin.
That wouldn't be too bad."

"A first would be."

"You're right," he said with a smile. "I'm sorry for them, but glad for us."

"Me, too.
So, what do you think about the cyanide and the house?"

"I don't know
querida
. We'll have to talk to some mining people when we get back."

"Or hazardous materials experts."

"Whatever it takes," he said.

She sighed. "I hate waiting for answers."

"Seems like waiting is all you've done since you got to Blue Sky. I'm sorry for my part in that."

"I'm hoping that eventually it will all be worthwhile."

"If you get to keep your house?"

She smiled. “The house is only a small part of it.”

“I remember when it was the biggest part.”

“A lot has changed since then.”

He reached up and lightly touched her cheek. “I hope you get everything you want.
Including the house.”

Her sigh reflected her mind set. “What happens if it's sitting on a hazardous waste site?"

"Could be
a lose
-lose situation for us. We don't get our mine and you have to give up the house." He took her hand and placed a kiss on the palm. "We'll finally be on the same side."

Some time during the night, Luc must have switched rooms. Callie knew this because she was tucked into his bed and he was nowhere to be seen when she awoke. For a moment or two she wasn’t sure what had roused her, but then the commotion coming from the other side of the door leading to her room sent her speeding out of bed.