A Place To Call Home

Charlie hesitated, then smiled. “Thanks, but I’d better do it. She probably needs to go to the bathroom, too.”

Judd started to argue, then thought better of it. He couldn’t blame her. If it was his daughter, he wouldn’t want a strange man taking her to the bathroom, either.

He nodded, then slid his hands beneath her armpits and pulled Charlie to her feet. For a second, they were face-to-face, gazes locked.

Then something happened.

Charlie would think later that it was a recognition of souls, while Judd would not remember the thought in his mind, only the yearning to kiss her.

He moved.

She lifted her face and held her breath.

“Mommy…”

Rachel’s plea yanked them back to reality, a vivid reminder that they were not alone. Desperate to put something between them, Judd picked the child up, then slid his free arm around Charlie’s waist and helped her into the house. Oddly enough, she leaned on his strength without fuss, taking his help as it was meant to be given. When they were inside, he set Rachel down in the hall outside the bathroom door. Charlie moved past him without comment. Judd watched the door closing between them while thinking he should have gone into town with Wade, after all. Staying alone in this house with Charlotte Franklin hadn’t been a good idea. He already admired her. He didn’t want to like her—at least, not so much that it would matter when it was time to leave.

Raymond Shuler came to in the dark and thought at first he’d gone blind. Then he felt the blindfold on his eyes and fought an urge to throw up. A whimper of protest came up his throat, but never got past the gag in his mouth. The ropes around his wrists and ankles were rough and binding, but those were the least of his worries. He’d been kidnapped. He was going to die.

Time passed. His mind was clearing as he recognized a current of air moving across his skin. A few seconds later it hit him. My God, he was naked!

Fear sliced through him, leaving him sick to his stomach as he struggled to pull free. The smell of dust was thick in the air and his throat felt dry, his lips cracked and burning.

Something rattled—then rattled again. At the sound of footsteps, he stilled. Was this it? Was this the moment he was going to die? He thought of his wife, of his family, of the debts that he owed and the secrets he’d kept and wondered how the world could go on without him. A low whimper slid up his throat, hanging just behind the gag stuffed in his mouth.

Hands yanked him roughly, rolling him from his back to his belly. He started to cry, mutely begging for a mercy that never came. Suddenly, something hot was thrust against his hip and the scent of burning flesh was in the air. Shocked by the unexpected stab of piercing pain, he arched up off the floor and then blessedly passed out before it was over. He never knew when the syringe full of antibiotic went into his arm, or when the sound of footsteps receded. It would be another day before he awoke, and by that time, the deed—and the damage—had been done.

“So, what do you know about the missing banker that you didn’t know this morning?” Judd asked as he cleared the table from the supper they’d just had.

Oblivious to the seriousness of the conversation going on around her, Rachel crawled up on her uncle Wade’s lap and began unbuttoning his shirt—a new and favorite pastime.

Wade looked down at his niece and grinned as her tiny fingers worked the buttons out of the holes.

“Not much,” he said. “Only that it looks like a real abduction, but there’s been no demand for ransom.”

“Does he have money?” Judd asked.

Charlie snorted lightly. “He’s got plenty of ours,” she muttered.

Wade patted Charlie on the hand, then looked at Judd. “Sometimes it’s hard to meet the mortgage payments and Shuler isn’t exactly a ‘good old boy’ when it comes to extensions.” Then he answered Judd’s question. “Yeah, he’s got money. Inherited it from his old man.”

Judd frowned. “Maybe you’re not the only people who don’t like the way he does business. Would you say he has enemies?”

Charlie’s snort was a little more pronounced. “It would be easier to count his friends. There’re fewer of them.”

Judd grinned at her. Damned if he didn’t like her spunk. “That bad, is he?”

She grimaced, then looked at Wade and sighed. “Am I being dramatic again?”

“Yes, honey, but that’s part of why I love you.”

She grinned. “And the other part is?”

He looked down at the imp in his lap. His chest was bare clear down to his belt. When she started twisting the hair on his chest around her little fingers and pulling, he yelped, then handed her to Charlie.

“I suppose that would be Miss Rachel here, although I must be a masochist for thinking it. Every night I suffer the tortures of the damned with those tiny fingers.” He looked at Judd and grinned. “With Rachel, who needs a razor?”

“Or a handkerchief,” Judd added.

Charlie thought of the way Judd had been awakened this morning and started to laugh.

“What did I miss?” Wade asked.

“While you were in the shower this morning, Judd had a rather rude awakening.”

Wade started to grin. “Not the finger-up-the-nose trick?”

Judd chuckled. “Oh, yeah,” he said. “But it was the exploratory twist before she pulled it out that got my full attention.”

Wade chuckled as Charlie squeezed Rachel close in her arms, burying her nose against the little girl’s neck.

“You’re such a mess, baby girl. What is Mama going to do with you?”

Judd leaned over and patted the tousle of curls on Rachel’s head. They felt like loops of silk against his palm.

“Just love her,” he said softly. “These days, the age of innocence is far too short.”

Wade’s smile slipped. “Amen to that,” he said, and then out of curiosity, decided to change the subject. “So, you know how my day went. What did you two do?”

“Not much,” Charlie said, and began fussing with the ties on Rachel’s tennis shoe.

“She did a little gardening,” Judd added, and stacked the rest of the plates in the sink.

The stilted tones of their voices set Wade on alert. For a moment he sat, staring at them in disbelief. Charlie was tying Rachel’s laces in knots and Judd began splashing water far too forcefully for the small stack of dishes that had to be washed. Concern crept into his thoughts. Despite the fact that the man was a cop and had saved Rachel’s life, he was still a stranger. Had he done something to Charlie while he was gone?

The chair squeaked across the linoleum as he suddenly stood.

“That’s the biggest bunch of nothing I ever heard and I’ve heard a lot. What went on out here that no one wants to discuss?”

Charlie stood, meeting her brother’s angry gaze. “Oh, for Pete’s sake, Wade, do you honestly think that if Judd had been less than a gentleman, he would be standing in my kitchen in one piece? I thought you knew me better than that.”

Judd was almost as angry, but at himself for getting into this position.

“Look, you two. Just give me a ride into town and I’ll be out of your lives for good.”

Panic hit Charlie hard as she turned toward him, and in that moment, she accepted the fact that she didn’t want him to go. But before she could speak, Wade shrugged and grinned.

“Sorry I jumped to conclusions. I guess it’s my suspicious nature. I’ve been a cop too long.” Then he added. “Besides, you can’t go. You promised to help me with the Shuler case.”