Bring On The Night

“What a magnificent armoire!” she exclaimed. She moved around the room, gushing over the furniture, while Jonah smoldered and watched her, his emotions warring. Anger and desire were tearing him apart. He didn’t want to feel either one, but he was consumed by both. Thinner, more pale, Kate still was the most beautiful woman he had ever known.

“Dammit,” he said softly under his breath. “Let’s look at the rest, Kate.”

She entered the dining room, which she found to be even more spectacular than the kitchen and family room. It was an immense space with another beamed ceiling, and fancy iron chandeliers that hung above a gleaming, dark wood table that could easily seat two dozen people.

Another mammoth stone fireplace filled one wall and crystal pieces sparkled in a tall breakfront on a credenza.

“That man didn’t have any relatives?” she asked, turning and catching Jonah looking at her in a manner that set her pulse fluttering again. Instantly, he walked away from her.

“His wife had a family, but her parents are in rehabilitation and not fit guardians. They are taken care of financially for their lifetimes. The property and the baby went to the three of us,” Jonah replied solemnly.

He motioned to her. “Down this way,” he said, “is a media room, a music room, a games room, a sunroom, a library. A portico connects the house to a cabana. In the cabana is a workout room.”

“Jonah, this house is going to take a fortune to maintain!” she exclaimed. “We ought to pay you to live here.”

“There’s no need to, Kate. I can manage it,” he said. “This is a highly profitable ranch.”

“You’re so fortunate and—” When she bit off her words, he turned to look at her, his brows arched in curiosity.

“And what?”

“You deserved to get this for risking your life to save his. It’s ironic that you saved him and then he came home and something happened to him.”

“John and Dina drowned off the coast of Scotland in a boating accident. It was their first trip on their own after their daughter’s birth and she was too small. The nanny looked after her.”

“They left the baby behind? That’s awful,” Kate exclaimed, and then caught Jonah staring at her with such anger that she bit her lip and turned away. He was probably thinking that it wasn’t as awful as what she had done, because they’d been killed accidentally, while she had kept Henry from him deliberately.

They looked at the house, selected bedrooms, and then Jonah told Henry he would take him to look at the barn and livestock. Before they left her, Jonah turned to Kate. “Give me your car keys and I’ll have someone fetch your vehicle.”

“It’s in the drugstore parking lot, one with North Carolina plates,” she said, giving him a description of her eleven-year-old car while she dug in her purse and pulled out keys, handing them to Jonah. When she did, their hands brushed—a slight contact, yet the touch was electric. He looked up into her eyes, and in that moment raw desire burned between them.

As she jerked her hand away, he turned abruptly. “Let’s go, Henry,” he said. Jonah glanced back at Kate. “I’ll put some steaks out to thaw. The kitchen and pantry looked fully stocked.”

“Fine,” she answered breathlessly, stunned by the intense reaction she was having after all these years, when she’d thought she had gotten over being responsive to him. “We had a big lunch and a late one,” she added. “Neither Henry nor I will be hungry for a while.”

“When I go home tomorrow to get my things, I want you and Henry to come with me so my folks and Henry can meet each other. I’ll get the plane tickets and then we’ll drive back here.”

She nodded, knowing she should let them meet, but her first thought was the long drive meant hours in the car with Jonah. She saw in her future that they would be thrown together constantly, and it was going to be a rocky time, if not impossible.

As father and son left the house, she watched them. It was an incredible turn of events in their lives, and she was still dazed by the sudden upheaval in her plans.

She turned back to the bedroom she had hastily chosen because it was next to a child’s room, one done in primary colors. She was thankful it wasn’t all in pink, since Jonah had told her the Frateses’ baby was a girl.

Anywhere under the same roof would be impossible to be far enough away from Jonah’s room to insulate her heart. As it was, his room was next to hers. He had a huge master bedroom that ran the length of the house on the side overlooking the pool and terrace. Each bedroom had its own balcony.

She looked at the skylighted room she had chosen and realized it was larger than any bedroom she had had before. It held a double bed that had a massive carved headboard she guessed was antique. A dresser and chest of drawers matched the bed, and a tall armoire stood on one side of the room. The green-and-white decor was cheerful in the afternoon sunlight spilling through wide windows. She was surrounded with luxury that she would have relished and enjoyed tremendously if it hadn’t included living with Jonah. Life with him would keep her constantly on edge.

Two hours later Henry returned, chattering, dusty and with sparkling eyes. Her car had been brought to the ranch and her things carried in by men who now worked for Jonah. She’d met them as they brought her suitcases up the stairs, then helped Jonah take a crib out of the nursery and put in a bed for Henry.

While the men worked, Kate ran a bath for her son and soon had him bathed and changed into his blue pajamas. She had found the pantry was fully stocked, as Jonah had promised, and she’d fixed an early supper for Henry, knowing he would be exhausted from the long day. While she didn’t want to eat alone with Jonah, Henry couldn’t last.

When they finished assembling the bed and she’d put clean sheets on it, she let Henry pick out two books from those that were unpacked.

“Can I read to him tonight?” Jonah asked from the doorway, and she turned to find him casually leaning against the jamb. How long had he been standing there watching her? she wondered.

“Yes. I’ll come tuck you in, Henry,” she said, leaving the room. At the doorway she looked back to see Jonah sitting in the rocking chair with Henry on his lap. The little boy settled in his father’s arms, and Kate suffered another pang for keeping the two separated. How long now would she have to live with guilt?

She hurried to her room to unpack some fresh clothes and shower.

Everything about Jonah was appealing, but she needed to constantly guard her heart and remember that this quiet country living would never last for him. To be happy Jonah had to be saving someone or handling some dangerous mission for his country. Getting out of Special Forces wouldn’t matter.

She changed into cutoffs and a blue T-shirt, twisting her hair up on her head in a butterfly clip and going back to see if they had finished reading.

As he read and rocked, Henry looked up at Jonah. “You’re my daddy? You’re going to stay? You’re not going to leave us?”

“No, Henry, I’m not going to leave you.”

“Daddy,” Henry said, running his tiny fingers along Jonah’s jaw. Jonah’s heart turned over. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“I’m glad, too, Henry,” he said in a husky voice as a rush of feeling choked him. He tightened his arms slightly around his son and continued reading, hoping Henry didn’t notice that he was getting emotional.

In minutes the boy was asleep. Jonah studied him, touching strands of his hair lightly, marveling in the child’s perfection. Filled with love and awe, Jonah picked up Henry, carrying him to the new bed and putting him down gently.

Then he stood beside the bed. Jonah was fascinated with every facet of Henry, noticing his son’s long lashes, his smooth brown skin, his small hands. He leaned down to brush a kiss on Henry’s forehead.

“I love you, Henry, and will thank God every day that I found you,” he whispered. He straightened and turned to discover Kate only yards away behind him, standing immobile with sadness in her eyes. She turned abruptly and left the room ahead of him.

When he found her waiting at the foot of the stairs, his anger soared, now that Henry was no longer around to witness his wrath. His gaze raked over her.

She was in cutoffs and she looked prettier than ever. There was something sultry and earthy about Kate, and the qualities had intensified in the last few years. Strands of her hair fell loose from the clip that held it pinned on her head. She always looked slightly thrown together, creating a casual, sultry air that had not changed with time.

When they entered the kitchen, she crossed the room. “What can I do to help with dinner?” she asked.

“I’ll grill the steaks, and while we eat, I want you to tell me about Henry. Do you have a baby book for him?”

“Yes, I do,” she answered.

“Fine,” Jonah replied as he got greens for salad from the refrigerator. “I’ll take care of the cooking. You go unpack his baby book so I can see it.”

“Jonah, if we’re tense and angry, he’s going to pick up on it soon,” Kate said. “You can’t pretend to be friendly with me one minute and then seethe with anger the next.”

“I figure the anger will go soon, because he’s here in my life now, and I’m damn thankful for that. Just overlook the anger, or live with it the way I lived with yours when we were married.”

She caught her breath and turned and left the room.

He swore silently and watched her walk away, mentally stripping away the cutoffs, looking at her long, bare legs and wanting her in spite of all she had done. He clamped his teeth so tightly they hurt, then turned to get a cold beer and start dinner.

Before they sat down to eat thick, juicy steaks on the patio, Jonah switched on the intercom.