Wylde (7 page)

“Yep,” Kell said.
“Kell, I will not play Jane to your Tarzan!”
Kell smiled. “I don’t want Jane. I want you.”

“Dad, how come you’re growling at the Chief?” Josh interrupted, walking in and rubbing sleepy eyes. Bright late afternoon sunlight illuminated his tousled hair as he looked from one man to the other, as if feeling the tension pulsing between them.

Noah swallowed, giving Kell a warning look.

Kell’s mouth flattened in a grim line. Did Noah think he was going to push the come-on with a kid in the room? He sat on his temper, knowing he’d have to show who he was to the wary Noah. “Your dad was just a little pissed at me for something I did,” Kell told Josh. “How are you feeling? I guess this isn’t the way you imagined moving in would be.”

“O
KAY
,
I guess,” Josh said. He noticed his dad was flushed and

avoiding his gaze. Of course, he’d heard the whole thing: the Chief wanted to date his dad, and his dad was freaking out. He guessed he had to act like a total kid and pretend he didn’t know what was going on or Noah would probably pass out.

At school in Seattle, Josh’s older best friend had been gay. That was not a big deal. But since it was his dad…. It wasn’t that the Chief was male exactly, it was…. Josh sighed, not sure how he was feeling but embarrassed it might be kind of like a little kid or something, accustomed to having Noah’s attention focused solely on him.

“So, someone made off with some food, your Dad tells me.” Kell’s questioning voice broke into Josh’s thoughts.

Comfortable with the Chief despite his gruffness, Josh sat down on the corner of the guest bed and put aside his qualms. “Yeah, it was weird. Like, most of our dinner. But it has to be someone who needed it more, right? At least that’s what I think,” he said gravely. “It wasn’t that kid Thomas, was it?”

“Nope, not him. Just do me a favor and don’t take any hikes in the woods for a while. I think….” The Chief scrubbed his unshaven jaw, and Josh could almost read his thoughts; he didn’t want to scare the city kid. “There’s maybe a bear… or, uh, something in the woods.”

Or something,
Josh thought. “I’ll stay around the house. So the Chief is going to take us to a movie? Can we see something cool?”

 

K
ELL
didn’t miss how Noah’s eyes widened.
Trapped!

He laughed, enjoying that Noah would probably have to go out with him after all, and he actually didn’t mind Josh coming with them. “Sure, I’ll take you both out tonight, but your Dad has final say on the movie choice.”

Josh rolled his eyes. “Just please tell me it won’t be Disney, okay? I’m not a total kid!”

A
T THE
diner, Jade refreshed Alec’s coffee as he leaned back in his chair. He looked tired, she noticed as he nodded courteously toward her, though his flushed cheeks gave him away; He was still sweet on her. He’d been sweet on her forever, but Jade didn’t want to run him over in one of her drive-by affairs. He was a nice kid, maybe seven years younger than herself. Nicely shaped too, ever since he’d been in the Rangers.

Alec cleared his throat. “Say, Jade, I thought you’d be at home, resting.”

“Can’t afford to lie around, and it was embarrassing the other night, being carted off in an ambulance,” she said. “I’m just glad that Thomas is okay. His mother fired me.” Jade raised a brow.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t blame her.” Alec shook his head. “Even if she seems a bit of a difficult woman.”

 

“And why is that?” Jade asked in an imperious tone. “Because a woman like you around her little boy? Nuh uh. The woman and her husband are total control freaks, Jade.”

 

“I’ll have you know, I’d never have…!”

Alec raised a hand. “Hey, I know. I’ve been… I’ve known you since I was fifteen, remember? She just doesn’t know that you’re a good person as well as beautiful.”

Jade cleared her throat, rubbing the bruise on her forehead self-consciously. “Yeah, right.” Knowing he was going to ask her out, she let a little coffee splatter, buying some time because she wasn’t sure exactly what her answer would be. “Oh crap!” she cursed loudly, making heads turn in shock. Well, let Alec see her for who she was, and that wasn’t goddamned Doris Day, now was it? “Sorry about that!”

“It’s okay. You didn’t get me,” Alec said. A wry look came into his soft chocolate eyes, as if he knew what she was up to, cutting him off before he could make a move. Huh.

She turned her back, deciding that even if
she
didn’t want him, there was no harm in him wanting her, so she rolled her hips as she headed to the counter for paper towels to clean up her mess. But when she looked over her shoulder, sure he’d be staring at her lush ass like every other man in this hick town, she saw with surprise he was looking into her eyes gravely.

He stood up, took his hat and nodded to her politely before quietly leaving.

“Well, damn!” Jade was abruptly irritated. Why did he have to do something that would make her think about him and wonder? The only other man immune to her attractions was the Chief, and wasn’t
that
a waste, since he was such a honey.

“You’re nothin’ special, Alec Danvers,” Jade muttered, slamming the coffee back down on its warmer.

I
T WAS
just after dark when she got in her beloved jeep and headed for the foothills where she lived. Her house was about a mile from that missing pot farmer’s, Morley Orris. Truth be told, she kind of missed him living there, even though he had a habit of lurking and nosing into people’s private stuff. Jade always figured that was an unhealthy trait, with all the secrets in her small town, people fooling around on the side, but for her part she had none, so Morley didn’t threaten her. And with him missing, no one lived on the lonely deadend road at the foot of the mountain but Jade.

But of course she wasn’t afraid or anything. Folks talked about some ghost on the mountain, but that was all just bull. She’d been hearing campfire stories since she was a girl. She knew truth from fiction, and despite the upsetting experience she’d had the other night, she was convinced the only things up that mountain were wild animals and too much fresh air. Too bad Thomas hadn’t seen that before he’d used his father’s gun and then almost gotten himself seriously lost.

She was on the last curve of road leading to her house when her jeep sputtered and died.

“Well, son of a
bitch!
” She got out and opened the hood, seeing steam coming from the engine. It could be any number of things. Her jeep was always breaking down, but she didn’t have the money to fix it.

She growled to herself, realizing she’d have to walk to her house. Damn it, her feet were sore from working all day, and her head was pounding from the knock she’d taken in the woods. Alec had been right to be surprised to see her working again so soon; she really should have taken a day off, she guessed.

She let her head fall back and briefly imagined Alec Danvers coming to her rescue in his air-conditioned SUV. She snorted at the picture. “You are never going to be Cinderella, honey, so you walk,” she scolded herself.

Not seeing any point in putting it off, she slammed the door of her jeep closed, making sure it was locked up. Her feet hurt so much, she thought about taking her shoes off and walking barefoot, but the asphalt was old, like walking on hot pebbles, so she left them on. The faster she got walking, the sooner she got home—not that anyone was waiting for her, but that was the way she liked it, she reminded herself, irritated when she had another vision of Alec’s eyes on her face. She was doing him a favor, not taking him for a one-nighter. Those heartbroken eyes told her he wasn’t the type.

Something snapped in the woods that ran alongside the road, and her heart gave a little bump. She paused, listening, but heard nothing more. It was very quiet.

“Naw, nothing to worry about, girl,” she scolded herself. This wasn’t a repeat of the other night, not that she remembered much, other than hitting her head suddenly.

She lifted her bag higher on her shoulder and continued heading down the road to her TV and a mac and cheese dinner, or maybe Thai with noodles tonight.

About a half mile from her car, she looked back over her shoulder and saw a branch swaying by the road. There was no wind to speak of, so she felt a cold chill poke her spine. “There’s nothing there!” she muttered. “Don’t be an idiot, Jade.” She’d lived here for years and never seen anything much, except sometimes something got in her garbage, but that was to be expected up here.

Still, she picked up her pace, almost running now on the road leading to her darkened house. She could just make out the roof peeking out of the bottom of the tall trees surrounding it.

Behind her, something crashed through the brush—

J
ADE
was running, her breath making little frantic sobs as she raced for her home, forgetting dignity now. Behind her, she could hear the crash of something chasing her through the strip of woods that paralleled the lonely road.

Suddenly she caught the sound of hard footfalls on tarmac.
This isn’t happening, this is bullshit!
Anger flared, saving her. Heart thundering, she dug frantically in her bag, grabbing what

she needed and dropping the bag, spinning around—

“Get back, fucker, or I’ll waste you!” Jade yelled, pointing her gun at her pursuer.
“You’d shoot a peace officer, Jade?” Alec asked, hands up. He was huffing, color bright at the top of his cheeks.

“
Holy…!
” Jade dropped the gun to her side and then paced, muttering to herself. “Turnip brain! Dickwad!”

“Hey, now, no need to be impolite. You okay?” Alec gently took the gun from her shaking hand, checking it out in experienced hands. “Beretta 92. Eight and a half inches long. Big gun for a woman to carry,” he noted mildly.

“Give it back!” Jade spat, getting her wind back. “Pumpkin brain!”
Alec’s eyes widened, but instead of being pissed or offended, he looked amused. He had a cut across his cheek, Jade noted, from what looked like whiplash from a branch.

“Why the hell were you stalkin’ me?”
“I’m part of the search party looking for Morley. I was tracking something and I heard you running. Thought you were the ghos—er, hope I didn’t scare you.”

Jade laughed, heart still pounding, but she was damned if she’d let him see that. “Scare me?
You?
” She looked him up and down, pretending contempt but taking in his rumpled uniform and the way the muscles in his forearms flexed as he unchambered her weapon and gave it back to her. “Oh good. At least you’re not stupid enough to disarm the little woman. That always drives me nuts in horror movies.”

Alec grinned, and Jade was caught for a second by his dark good looks under the faint light of a distant street lamp. His face was angular, olive-toned, not a looker at first glance, until you were caught in the reflection of simmering chocolate eyes. “Honey, you have weapons a man should be wary of even without the gun. You got a permit to carry that, right?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jade lied.

Alec scratched the back of his neck, looking as if he didn’t quite believe her and knew that he was not batting a thousand with Jade but wasn’t sure he cared. Instead, he had the air of man who simply appreciated. Huh. He was a piece of work, but no way was she letting him under her skin.

“Just don’t shoot any county deputies and we’ll forget it. I actually feel better knowing you got that little cannon. You really should move closer to town,” he suggested, putting a protective hand on her arm, his callused fingertips making her want to shiver from a weird intensity sparking from his touch.

Jade shook him off to get down and pick up the scattered debris from her bag. Alec also knelt to help her patiently. He didn’t even blush when he handed her a Kotex box. Being in the Rangers had sure changed him.

“I like it up here. It’s my land and no spooky bullshit is going to drive me away, you hear?”

 

“Yes, ma’am.” Alec smiled before asking wistfully, “Do you like living alone? I don’t.”

 

She shrugged, letting him walk her home. “Yeah, it’s fine. Not like I’m dying to pick up after some man.”

 

“Some men pick up after themselves, Jade.” Alec frowned. “And how come you’re on foot? The jeep went again?”

“Yeah. I’ll go out and fix it in the morning.” Jade was pretty handy now, caring for her beloved jeep. She took pride in the fact that only rarely did she have to take it to the shop.

“If you got some tools, I can tow it to your house for you and give you a hand.”

“I can take care of it myself.” She pressed her lips together, uncomfortable with the idea she’d owe him or anyone else any favors.

“Never hurts to let a friend help you.”
“You just want to get in my pants!” she scoffed.

Alec blinked, but again he didn’t blush. Well, damn. His confidence was getting on her nerves. Did nothing shake him? She knew he wanted her. He’d
always
wanted her, from the time he was fifteen.

“Sure I do. Who wouldn’t? You’re a beautiful woman, Jade, but I’d rather be your friend first,” Alec retorted, somewhat primly.