Shifting Calder Wind (Calder Saga 7)

Their lips parted a second time, and again they stayed in the embrace, each breathing hard and smiling a little at this oddly giddy feeling they had. His hands roamed over her back. Chase was vaguely irritated by the enveloping night robe when he wanted nothing between them.

This time Hattie didn’t say a word, leaving it to Chase to speak first. “I can’t promise you anything, Hattie.” He felt honor bound to say that. “Not even tomorrow.”

She placed a shushing finger on his mouth. “I wouldn’t hold you to it even if you did. It wouldn’t be fair, not when you haven’t fully recovered your memory. As a woman, I’ve learned not to count too much on tomorrow. It’s much wiser to make the most of tonight. It may be all there is.” She paused a breath, then swore softly and ruefully, “Oh, hell.”

Chase drew back. “What’s wrong?”

“Laredo’s coming.” She nodded in the direction of the road.

Turning his head, Chase spotted the pickup’s headlights before he heard the steady hum of its engine. Hattie pulled out of his arms and hurriedly straightened the front of her robe and re-knotted the sash that had worked loose. When she began to pat and smooth her hair into order, he chuckled.

“Such old-fashioned modesty. That’s unexpected,” he said with a grin, turning her words back on her.

She slapped at his arm in playful retaliation. “Be quiet.”

“It’s not many women your age that need to make those kind of repairs to their appearance,” he teased, quick to notice she was a little bit flustered.

“And whose fault is that?” Hattie retorted, then cupped her hands to her cheeks. “Oh, my goodness, I’m actually blushing. I didn’t think I still knew how.”

She laughed softly at herself, and Chase joined in, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to nestle her against his side. That’s the way they stood when Laredo drove up to the line shack.

But Laredo was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice.

“You’re up late.” His glance bounced off them as he slipped the truck keys into his pocket. “You weren’t waiting up for me, were you?”

“As a matter of fact, we weren’t,” Chase replied. “But considering how late it is, what took you so long?”

Laredo pulled in a deep breath and let it out. “Sally Brogan, the housekeeper, is dead. It looks like a heart attack. The coroner hadn’t got there yet when I left, but Echohawk had arrived.”

“Did he talk to you?”

“No.” He studied Chase for a moment. “You don’t remember Sally, do you?”

After a short pause, Chase replied with a small negative movement of his head.

“Jessy said she’s been in love with you for years. I guess your ‘death’ really tore her up. Now it’s her death that’s weighing on Jessy.” There was no emotion in Laredo’s voice.

But Hattie knew him too well, and understood the things he had left unsaid. Instinct had her moving from Chase’s side and laying a comforting hand on Laredo’s arm.

“It must be awful for Jessy,” she said. “I don’t even know Sally, and it hurts that she went through all that anguish without ever knowing Chase was still alive. I can imagine the sense of guilt Jessy must be feeling.”

“Yeah.” Laredo’s voice was flat, almost clipped. “It can’t be helped, though.”

“And Jessy knows that, too.”

“Yeah. She’ll get over it.” A muscle worked in his jaw, a clamping down of feeling.

With a sudden flash of intuition, Hattie realized it was another emotion entirely he was masking. Soft as a whisper, she murmured, “It’s Jessy, isn’t it?”

He slid her a downward glance, a sardonic wryness twisting his mouth. “I’ll get over it.”

“Duke and I were talking before you came.” She spoke in a normal voice, glancing at Chase to include him. “He said you have a home here as long as you want it.”

“That’s generous,” he said with an acknowledging nod in Chase’s direction. “But it’s not likely to be up to me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll turn in. It’s been a long day.” Head down, he headed for the cabin.

Her heart went out to him as Hattie watched him disappear inside the cabin’s darkened interior. Chase moved to her side.

“Is something wrong?”