Jane’s throat tightened. Time to change the subject. “How did he get in here, sweetheart?”
Cody shook his head. “There was this big light, right in the middle of my room. Round. Like…sort of like a train tunnel, only light instead of dark. Really light. It hurt my eyes.” Jane frowned, but her son kept on talking. “Then the light was gone, and he was laying on the floor.”
“Lying on the floor,” she said automatically, her gaze pinned to the man in her son’s bed.
“That’s what I said. Mom, you think he’s a ghost?”
“No, Cody, I don’t think he’s a ghost.” She frowned at her son. “And I didn’t think you believed in anything as non-scientific as that.”
“I don’t. But what about—?”
“Come on,” she said, feeling uneasier by the second. A train tunnel, indeed. “Let’s go call Sheriff O’Donnell.”
“Mom, we can’t!” Cody pulled his hand free. “He needs help! He’s sick or hurt or something! You can’t go putting him in jail!”
“Honey, he broke into our house—”
“He’s my friend!” Cody crossed his arms over his chest, lower lip protruding.
“How can he be your friend? You don’t even know him.”
“He hugged me,” Cody said firmly. “And he said he loved me. And I’m not going to let you put him in jail.”
Jane closed her eyes and sighed. “Codester, sweetie, we can’t just keep him.”
“Why not? He could help with the tree house I want to build in the backyard. When he’s better, I mean. It would be great. And we could—”
“For all we know, Cody, this man could be a dangerous criminal. We can’t just let him stay. He could be—” She looked down into her son’s huge green eyes and felt like Attila the Hun. “Cody…”
“Please, Mom? We at least have to find out who he is, where he came from. What that flash of light was all about. I think he needs help, Mom.”
She sighed. “I’ll think about it.”
Cody smiled. Then he yawned and rubbed his eyes.
“Come on. You’d better get some sleep now. In my room, okay?”
“Okay.” Grinning, Cody raced down the hall and shot right into her bedroom.
Jane looked at the man who slept in her son’s bed. There was, of course, no way she was going to let him stay here. She’d simply have to wait until Cody went to sleep to call the sheriff. She’d figure out a way to explain it to him later. Meanwhile, she wouldn’t take her eyes off the guy. If he so much as glanced in Cody’s direction…
She picked up the baseball bat and pulled up a chair. She’d give Cody fifteen minutes to fall asleep. Then she’d place that call.
Zach awoke in the darkened room. His son’s bedroom, of course. He must have tired himself out working today, and fallen asleep reading to the boy. It was a wonder Ben hadn’t shaken him awake to get him to finish the story, the way he usually did.
But where on earth was Benjamin?
He closed his eyes, shook his head. Of course. Benjamin was still visiting his grandparents in Boston. How could he have forgotten?
Well, then, as long as he was awake, he might as well get some work done.
Oh, bother.
Zach poked into his shirt pocket in search of his spectacles, but didn’t find them there. He reached to the small stand beside the bed for an oil lamp, but he must not have left it there. All he had to go by was the moonlight streaming in through the window behind him as he scanned the room in search of the lamp. But what was this? There was an incredibly beautiful young woman asleep in a wooden chair beside the bed. She wore a pale nightgown, with short sleeves that revealed her shapely arms. Her head was tipped sideways, resting upon her shoulder. And her hair rolled in waves of red-brown satin, halfway to the floor. My word, she was something. But what on earth was she doing here? How had she…
Slowly Zach recalled his colleagues Wilhelm and Eli, and their penchant for practical jokes. They’d been teasing him about working too hard, about having no life, no interests, aside from his son and his work. He’d once been something of a rogue, engaging in affairs with some of the town’s most notoriously improper young women. But he’d been slacking off lately, and devoting all his time to the current experiment. One that would change the world, if he ever made it work.
Once, those two clowns had suggested he’d been so long without a woman that he wouldn’t know what to do with one if she showed up in his bed. So they’d decided to hire some doxy to prove their point, had they? My, she was beautiful. Unfortunately, he wasn’t so desperate to prove his manhood that he’d risk disease to do so. He much preferred to choose his own lovers. A shame, such a shame.
He sighed. No doubt she’d report back to those two childish pranksters that he’d failed to show any interest in her…charms.
Well, he could at least avoid the ribbing he’d take over that.
Sliding from the bed, wondering only briefly why he felt so weak and slightly dizzy, he tiptoed to the chair where she slept, nearly tripping over the baseball bat his son must have left lying about. Amazing he hadn’t spotted it before. He shoved it out of the way with his foot and stepped closer to the trollop, and touched that long hair, rubbed it between his fingers. Soft as down. He bent slightly, inhaled her scent and smiled. Oh, they’d gone all out. Must have paid extra for a clean and lovely girl. This one looked as fresh as a daisy, and smelled even better.
As he stood bending over her, she sighed and moved a bit. Her lips parted and her head tipped back. And Zach realized with a pang how very long it had been since he’d kissed a woman. And, aside from the common cold, perhaps, he didn’t fear catching anything by kissing this one.
So he did. He bent lower, lifted her chin with the tip of his forefinger and fit his mouth to hers. Her lips were warm and moist and pliant, and they felt good beneath his. Better when a gentle sigh escaped them, one he inhaled. He nudged those soft lips apart, to taste more of her, and they opened willingly, easily. She was starting to come awake now. Starting to respond, kissing him back. He slipped his arms around her small waist and pulled her to her feet, cradling her between his legs and against his chest as he deepened his kiss. Her drowsy response ignited feelings in him that he’d long since forgotten. Feelings he hadn’t thought he’d ever know again. Passion flared in his veins, and her body pressed closer, head tilted farther, lips opened to his questing tongue. Her hands crept up his back, clung to his shoulders, and his heart beat a wild tattoo in his chest. No, none of his halfhearted dalliances had produced this strong a response in him.
Not since Claudia…
And then a mighty shove sent him staggering backward, and Zach was too surprised to even wonder why he was so weak that a mite of a woman could send him flying.
She stood panting, glaring at him. “That’s it,” she fairly growled at him. “That’s it. I was thinking about going easy on you, mister, but you’ve pushed me too far.”
“Rough or easy,” he told her, “doesn’t much matter. I’m not interested in having sex with you, Miss, so you might as well be on your way.” It was a lie, of course. He was very interested. If only he had one of those condoms on hand, he might even oblige her.
“Not…interested… Sex?” She blinked as if in shock.
“Oh, it isn’t you, love.” He smiled at her, reached out a hand to smooth her hair out of her eyes. She only stood there, apparently too shocked to move. “Actually, I’m more tempted than I’ve been in a very long time. You’re lovely. But I’ve no wish to expose myself to…