Page 19

“What do I look like, an idiot?” He tugged up the zipper of his jacket, flipped up the collar and opened the door while Lexi was still feeling the rush of heat in her cheeks.

He paused in the doorway, swearing softly.

“What’s wrong?" she asked him.

“It’s really coming down out there. The road must be damned near impassable by now.”

“Oh.” She’d figured it would be. She’d seen those low hanging clouds too often not to know when a storm was about to cut loose.

“No way in hell we’ll get back to the lawyer’s house tonight.”

She’d been counting on it. “It’s just as well,” she said. “Maybe by the time the roads are cleared they’ll be back.”

“And maybe you planned it that way.”

She shrugged. “Maybe I did.”

He shook his head. “Tomorrow, Lexi. The second the roads are cleared. And I don’t care if I have to break in with the whole damn town watching.” With that he walked out the door, closing it behind him.

So this was it, at least for tonight. And they were together in even closer quarters than they’d been in the motel. How was she ever going to sleep? Even in bunk beds, she’d be too close to him. Way too close.

Romano came back inside ten minutes later and stood in the doorway brushing snow from his shoulders.

She went to help, dusting the white stuff from his jacket.

She reached for his dark hair, ruffling it with her fingers to shake the snow away.

And then she stopped. His hair was soft and damp, and her fingers were buried in it.

She stood very close to him, too close, maybe, and when she looked up, he was staring right down into her eyes.

He laid his hands gently over hers, still buried in his hair, and he lifted them away. Lexi blinked, turning abruptly. “Do we have matches?”

“Top drawer,” he said, and she thought his voice was the slightest bit gruff.

Of course it was, he’d just been out in the cold.

She found the matches. “Better get the pilots lit. Shine the light, will you?”

He did, and Lexi lit the little gas lamps and then turned the knobs.

In seconds the lamps glowed, washing the camper in warm light.

It did erotic things to a man’s skin, that amber glow.

It did even more disturbing things to his eyes.

She lit the pilot on the small two-burner range next.

The camper was too old a model to have electric pilot ignition.

She handed the matches to Romano. “You can do the heat. I haven’t got a clue. ”

He nodded, took the matches from her and fiddled around in the little closet next to the cubby-sized bathroom. The place was toasty a few minutes after he emerged.

Romano shrugged off his coat and sat down at the table. So now what, Lexi wondered. She poked around in the cupboards to see what he’d bought to eat, finally settling on a can of beef stew and some instant hot cocoa. She located a can opener, some bottled water, and a pair of small pots.

“You don’t have to go back there with me tomorrow,” she said at last, unsure whether she’d be treading on forbidden ground to broach the subject that had been on her mind since they’d left Jim’s house. I’ll go alone, get the papers and bring them back here.”

“Sure you will. Or maybe you’ll decide to take off for parts unknown with them.”

She sank into the seat across from him. “I won’t do that.”

“You’d do just about anything to protect your father’s name, Lexi.”

“Not his name, his legacy. His team at the university are working on major things. My father’s reputation is what keeps them funded. There’s more at stake here than just his name.” She lowered her eyes and added, “And if I tell you I won’t do something, then I won’t.”

“Even if those papers prove your old man did exactly what I told you he did?”

She held his gaze and nodded. “Yes, even then.” She wanted to add that she knew that wasn’t going to be the case, but her doubts were too strong, and growing all the time. “I’ll swear on his memory, if it’ll make you feel better.”

He searched her face for a long moment, finally nodding. “I almost believe you would. But I’m going with you, anyway.”

“You … you might not want to.”

He sighed heavily and let his chin fall to his chest. “I saw the bicycles in the garage. I know they have kids.”

She got up, turning to the range to stir the stew, and she wondered if talking about this would hurt him more or help him.

“Their grandchildren stay with them quite often. Especially during the holidays. I hadn’t thought about it before, but chances are if they do get back tomorrow, they’ll have the kids with them.

You don’t have to put yourself through that. ”

“Don’t.”

“I saw your face at that diner. I saw what looking at that little boy did to you. I’d have to be blind not to see it.”

“Don’t,” he repeated.

“Going there tomorrow will only hurt you more.” She was thinking of more than just the children.

She was thinking of the things scattered all over the place that would remind Romano of his lost little ones.

Toys and books and games and small clothes.

There would be evidence of the children everywhere.

He lifted his chin, met her eyes without blinking. “Nothing could hurt me more , Lexi. Pain is something I’ve learned to live with.”

“But—”

“And it’s my pain, not yours. It has nothing to do with you, do you understand that?”

She blinked at him, wanting with everything in her to reach out and touch him, take him in her arms and make it all right for him.

“I want you to leave it alone.” He got up, reaching past her to snap the burner off. “You’re burning the stew.”

“Romano …”

He froze her with a single glance. “Just leave it alone, Lexi. Please.”

She swallowed hard, bit back the flood of words that wanted to escape. Words of comfort that would do little good anyway. She clenched her jaw, closed her eyes. “I don’t suppose you thought to buy plastic flatware, did you?”

When she opened her eyes again she saw his shoulders sag in relief, heard the breath escape him in a long sigh.

“Yeah. I hate plasticware.” He reached past her again, scraping open another drawer to reveal a handful of stainless set of silverware.

“I grabbed a couple of plates and coffee mugs too. No bowls though. Guess we make do.”

“Guess so.”

Lexi left off the topic of his sons, and Romano was grateful, because it was harder with her.

He still hadn’t figured out why that was, but when Lexi started poking at his wounds, he couldn’t stop himself from cooperating, answering her questions, opening up to her and letting her in.

He didn’t like that power she seemed to have over him.

To make him talk about it, to invade his darkness with her light.

He didn’t discuss his family with anyone. They were sacred, and that was that.

He looked at Lexi whenever she wasn’t looking at him—which wasn’t often—and tried to figure out what it was about her that made him forget his own rules.

But there were no answers in her soft brown eyes, or in the way she managed to shovel beef stew into her mouth like a half-starved person, while still looking graceful and feminine. Didn’t make a damn bit of sense.

And then her eyes caught his in the act of staring, but they were wide, startled. She swallowed hard and said, “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Shh!” She held up a hand, tilted her head to one side.

Romano listened, and in a second he heard it, too. The distinct sound of footfalls in the wet snow. His muscles tensed, and before he was aware of moving, his gun was in his hand. Lexi moved only enough to crank a window very slightly open.

The sounds came more clearly then. Closer. A few steps, then silence, then a few more steps. Someone was creeping up on them.

Romano looked into her eyes. Big mistake.

She was terrified, and it made a lump come into his throat.

Made his stomach clench. “Don’t be scared, Lexi, you’ll get your heart going again.

” His thoughts should have been on other things.

Like surviving a sneak attack, not comforting a scared woman.

“I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you. Promise. ”

Stupid, making promises he knew damned well he might not be able to keep. And she wasn’t much better, because she actually looked as if those words eased her mind. As if she believed him, trusted him to protect her.

Sure, just like Wendy and my sons did once.

He closed his eyes to block out thoughts like that. This was no place for them. Slowly he got up, reaching to douse the lights so he wouldn’t be perfectly silhouetted when they opened the door. “Put on my jacket, just in case you have to run.”

He heard the denim brushing over her as she complied.

Then she was beside him, near the door. “I’ll step out first,” he told her.

“You come out behind me, but as soon as your feet hit the ground, slip around behind the camper. I’m pretty sure there’s only one of them.

If anything happens to me, run down toward town. Okay?”

“No.”

He froze with his hand on the doorknob, turned to study the shape of her face in the shadows.

“I’m not going anywhere if something happens to you. You might … need me.”

Those two words, need me, came out on a trembling breath. Unsteady. As if they were inordinately important.

Oh, great, something more about her for his mind to insist on analyzing while he knew he ought to be planning this mission. Just what he needed.

“If I tell you to run, you’d damn well better run,” he told her. He thought she nodded, but wasn’t sure. The footfalls drew nearer, got louder.

Romano flung the camper door open and lunged through it, landing in the deep snow with his gun leveled at where the sounds had come from.

And at that moment, the storm clouds skittered away from the full moon, giving him a clear glimpse of the intruder as it leapt away.

A white-tailed deer with antlers that resembled a coat rack.