He’d stayed away from Tori the past few weeks.

He’d had a tight feeling in his gut ever since his life had crossed with Tori’s again. Ever since the night Andy had been born, he couldn’t seem to disconnect himself from her and the baby she wanted to mother so badly.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he slid closer to her and wrapped his arm around her. Even with his vast experience with words—the calm make-a-deal tone, the believe-and-you-can-trust-me phrases, the coaxing supplications, the firm stand-his-ground negotiation—in all of it there were no words for a situation like this. Tori was worried she’d lose her son in so many ways. He wouldn’t give her platitudes that might not be honest.

When Tori’s shoulders relaxed and she leaned against him, he knew she’d finally accepted his support. That seemed to be majorly important to him, and he didn’t examine too closely the reasons why….

Dear Reader,

Well, the new year is upon us—and if you’ve resolved to read some wonderful books in 2004, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll begin with Expecting! by Susan Mallery, the first in our five-book MERLYN COUNTY MIDWIVES miniseries, in which residents of a small Kentucky town find love—and scandal—amidst the backdrop of a midwifery clinic. In the opening book, a woman returning to her hometown, pregnant and alone, finds herself falling for her high school crush—now all grown up and married to his career! Or so he thinks….

Annette Broadrick concludes her SECRET SISTERS trilogy with MacGowan Meets His Match. When a woman comes to Scotland looking for a job and the key to unlock the mystery surrounding her family, she finds both—with the love of a lifetime thrown in!—in the Scottish lord who hires her. In The Black Sheep Heir, Crystal Green wraps up her KANE’S CROSSING miniseries with the story of the town outcast who finds in the big, brooding stranger hiding out in her cabin the soul mate she’d been searching for.

Karen Rose Smith offers the story of an about-to-be single mom and the handsome hometown hero who makes her wonder if she doesn’t have room for just one more male in her life, in Their Baby Bond. THE RICHEST GALS IN TEXAS, a new miniseries by Arlene James, in which three blue-collar friends inherit a million dollars—each!—opens with Beautician Gets Million-Dollar Tip! A hairstylist inherits that wad just in time to bring her salon up to code, at the insistence of the infuriatingly handsome, if annoying, local fire marshal. And in Jen Safrey’s A Perfect Pair, a woman who enlists her best (male) friend to help her find her Mr. Right suddenly realizes he’s right there in front of her face—i.e., said friend! Now all she has to do is convince him of this….

So bundle up, and happy reading. And come back next month for six new wonderful stories, all from Silhouette Special Edition.

Sincerely,

Gail Chasan

Senior Editor

Their Baby Bond
Karen Rose Smith

www.millsandboon.co.uk

In memory of my grandparents, Antonio and Rosalie Arcuri,

who gave me my first glimpse of life outside of Pennsylvania.

With thanks to Jill Brown, who patiently explained the answers to my questions about pyloric stenosis. In appreciation to Megan Walsh, an expert on adoption in New Mexico. With deepest thanks to Detective Jeff Arbogast, Public Informations Officer for the Albuquerque Police Department. Their expertise and experience were invaluable.

KAREN ROSE SMITH

Award-winning author Karen Rose Smith first glimpsed the Southwest on a cross-country train ride when she was sixteen. Although she has lived in Pennsylvania all her life, New Mexico has always called to her. The mountains there have a power and beauty she hopes she managed to convey in this book. Readers can reach Karen at her Web site (www.karenrosesmith.com) or write to her at P.O. Box 1545, Hanover, PA 17331.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Epilogue

Chapter One

E xcitement, anticipation and fear danced inside Victoria Phillips all at the same time. In less than a month, she’d be bringing home a baby.

Deep purple and muted orange streaked the early September Santa Fe sky as Tori hurried up the three steps to the porch of her adobe ranch-style house. She let herself inside, thinking again about bringing home her baby boy if all went as planned…if Barbara Simmons—the eighteen-year-old who wasn’t ready for motherhood—didn’t change her mind. Tori had agreed to an unusual request, and now it haunted her more each day.

As she set her leather purse on the counter, her doorbell rang.

Quickly she returned to her living room. Maybe it was Barbara. She stopped in every now and then to report on all that was happening in her pregnancy. From the moment Tori had seen the sonogram of that little baby boy…

Swinging the door wide open, her breath caught as she recognized the man standing there—Jake Galeno. She’d called the number in his ad just last night. When she’d left a message, she’d never expected him to get back to her this soon, and certainly not show up on her doorstep! It had been twelve years since she’d last seen him, twelve years since he’d taken her to her prom and at the end of the evening given her a heart-stopping kiss she’d never forgotten.

In spite of the fact that she was a very confident thirty now, she was flustered. “Jake! I didn’t know if you’d remember me. I never expected you to get back to me this quickly.”

The breeze tossed his blue-black hair. The mixture of Native American, Spanish and Anglo heritage evident in his high cheekbones, angular face and slightly crooked nose reminded her she’d once thought he was the most handsome, the most sexy, man in the world.

He still is, a little voice whispered.

“Of course I remember you. How could I ever forget a night in Camelot?” he teased.

She’d never forget her senior prom and the legendary world that had embraced them for one wonderful night. Jake Galeno’s rugged outward appeal had always been enhanced by a deep, calm, sensual voice that vibrated through her like the ancient notes of the Native American music she loved. Now her thoughts scattered like dust in the wind as his almost-black eyes held hers for interminably long seconds.

Finally he stepped into the silence. “You called me because you have work you need to have done on your house?”

He was going to think she was an absolute idiot! Brushing a few strands of her tawny, pageboy-cut hair behind her ear, she swallowed. “Yes, I did. Please come in.”

When Jake moved into her house, he seemed to take up all the space. He was six-foot-two, broad-shouldered and lean-hipped. Due to her friendship with his sister, Nina, he’d taken her to the prom out of kindness. Afterward they’d gone their separate ways. Back then, he’d just finished training at the police academy and had taken a job on the Albuquerque police force. She wondered why he’d returned to Santa Fe.

“You told me your work hours when you left your message,” he reminded her. “I looked up your address in the phone book. It will be easier to give you an estimate for your repairs if I see them.”

“The last two contractors I phoned never called me back,” she explained. “One didn’t get back to me for two weeks and then told me his schedule was full until after Christmas. So I guess I expected the same from you.”

Casually, Jake slipped a tanned hand into the pocket of his jeans. “I just got my business off the ground officially about six months ago. I’ve been consistently busy, one project turning into the next. I’m finishing up a house near Espanola. I can fit you in, probably start next week—Tuesday, since Monday’s Labor Day.”

“That would be terrific! In a few weeks I won’t want to deal with noise and dust—” She stopped. Jake certainly didn’t want to hear about her life. He’d come to give her an estimate.

It had been his kindness she’d remembered most about him, his ease with anyone he talked to. Now it wrapped itself around her as he asked, “Is something special happening in a few weeks?”

She only hesitated a heartbeat. “I’m going to become a mother.”

At that, his gaze appraised her flowing turquoise-and-rust pants outfit. It molded to her when she moved and clung flatteringly to her figure when she didn’t. She became hot under Jake’s perusal and was quick to say, “Oh, I’m not having the baby. I mean, not naturally. I’m adopting.”

“An infant?”

“Yes. It’s a private adoption. A young unwed mother.”

Obviously sensing her excitement, he smiled. “And you can’t wait?”

“No, I can’t wait. I want everything to be in order…everything to be perfect. I’ve waited for this for so long—” Her voice broke, and she was embarrassed by the depth of feeling in it. Her divorce from Dave and the reasons for it had almost destroyed her. But she’d made a new start.

“You never married?” Jake asked, as if it was an everyday question.

They weren’t strangers, after all. She’d worked with Nina at a pottery outlet her last two years in high school, and that’s how she’d known Jake. Well, not really known him. He’d been four years older and out of her universe.

Except for that one night—a night in Camelot. “I was married for a while. But it didn’t work out. I took back my maiden name after my divorce.”

“Raising a child on your own won’t be easy.”

She was tired of hearing that—from her mother, from the media, from her inner doubts. “Raising a child on my own will be a lot easier than doing it with a man I can’t expect to stay, can’t expect to trust, can’t expect to be an equal partner.”

Jake’s brows arched. “Sorry if I hit a nerve. But I’ve seen my sister struggle with her two boys since her husband died.”

His remark spiked through the tension. “I’m so sorry! Nina and I lost touch years ago. I didn’t even know she was married. And now she’s a widow. Did you say she has boys?”

He grinned. “Twins. Whirlwinds who don’t let me rest a minute when I’m with them. Once in a while I take them for the day. Working from dawn to dusk for a week is easier and requires less energy.”

Although his tone was wry, she could tell he was fond of his nephews. Curiosity urged her to ask, “You don’t have children of your own?”

His mouth straightened into a serious line. “No. I’ve never been married and I never expect to be.”

It was an uncompromising statement with feeling behind it that Tori understood. After Dave left, reinforcing childhood doubts and fears that had come into play when she’d decided to get married, she’d known that she’d never trust a man again. Whatever had fueled Jake’s remark came from a place deep inside him, a place that had been long established.

The silence between them crackled with awareness. Or was it only her old crush on Jake Galeno deluding her into thinking the attraction she’d always felt for him might now be more than one-sided?

She had no intention of finding out.

A car horn beeped at the curb next door, giving her an excuse to break eye contact as she glanced out the window. “I’d better show you the problems out back first. We can go through the kitchen.”

Leading the way, she didn’t risk another look into those sable eyes that still had the power to fascinate her.

The sky was almost violet, the clouds gray puffs tinged with pink, as Jake stood on Victoria Phillips’s patio, focusing on the weather-and-wear damage to the house’s exterior northern wall—trying to focus on it, rather than her. When he’d heard her message last night, he’d been transported into the past as if he’d stepped into a time machine. She’d always been a beauty with her honey-gold sleek hair, her blue-green eyes, curves that for a few moments had fit so well against his hard body. He’d met her when she’d just turned seventeen and he’d been twenty-one. When he’d taken her to the prom a year later because her date had landed in the hospital with appendicitis, he’d put a leash on his desire. He felt duty bound to protect her innocence.

She was still off-limits. His life was too undecided. He wasn’t sure he’d be staying in Santa Fe. He could end his unpaid leave of absence from the Albuquerque police force with one phone call. But he had no intention of returning to negotiations team work. And he had no intention of involving himself with a woman like Tori. Up until a year ago, he’d been an expert at reading people. If the skills he’d honed since he was a kid counted for anything, he was sure Tori Phillips would put the child she wanted to adopt before a torrid affair.

The breeze carried the scent of Tori’s perfume, a deep flowery scent, as he ran his hand over the patches on the wall that needed attention. Straightening, he caught her watching him, and the sharp stirring of desire made him take a deep breath.

Damn! He should turn this job down. But his fledgling business needed the income. He didn’t want to deplete the savings he’d worked so hard to accumulate. “You mentioned ceramic-tile work, a medicine cabinet you’d like to have installed and shelves in a bedroom closet?”

Under the glow of the day-end sun, her cheeks pinkened a bit. “I’ll show you.” Quickly, she moved back into the house toward the bathroom.

He could see that the ceramic tile-work surrounding the tub and sink would be extensive. “Are you sure you don’t want to use a laminate?” he asked, after he explained everything he’d need to do and the mess it would make.

“I like the permanence of tile—when it’s done right,” she added with a small laugh.

“Age has something to do with it,” he concluded as he ran his finger over the crumbling grouting. He eyed the medicine cabinet she’d purchased and the lighting fixture that would hang above it. She wanted quality, and that didn’t surprise him about Tori, either. He’d looked up her art gallery—Perceptions—in the phone book last night after she’d left her message. It was located on Old Santa Fe Trail. She must be doing well if she could afford this little gem of a house. Real estate in Santa Fe was over the top.

“The closet is in here.” After she led him to the second bedroom, she opened a closet door. Like the rest of the house—except for the kitchen and bathroom—the room had a hardwood floor, but it was expectantly empty. “I’d like shelves in the upper portion of this closet and a bar for hangers below.”

She pointed to patches of plaster near the floorboards that had crumbled. “Can you fix that, too?”

“Thanks to apprenticing with my uncle since I was about ten, I can do a little bit of everything. I have my general building license and one in ceramic tile, marble and teffazzo.”

She looked impressed. “You worked with your uncle before you entered the police academy.”

“You have a good memory.”

“I think I remember everything you told me on prom night.”

Then, as if she’d revealed a secret, she pinkened again and changed the subject. “How long do you think this will take? Barbara’s baby is due at the end of September.”

“If my estimate meets with your approval, I’ll work as fast as I can. The job will probably take four or five days.”

“That’s great. I’ll have about three weeks to get everything ready.”

She started across the room and then stopped. “I forgot to show you the breaks in the fence out back.”

“I saw them. I’ll put the numbers on paper tonight. I can drop it in the mail or give you a call.”

“You can just call me.”

“You might want to see everything itemized.”

“I trust your estimate will be honest.”

Her words took him by surprise. “Why is that?”

“Because I doubt if you’ve changed from the young man who took me to the prom. You could have taken advantage of me that night, and you didn’t.”

That night he’d seen the stars in her eyes and known she’d thought of him as one of those rescuing knights that had been painted on the paper taped to the walls of the banquet hall. Yes, he could have taken advantage of her.

“You think because I was a gentleman on prom night I won’t overcharge you?” His tone was amused.

She laughed. “I’ll be able to tell from your estimate. And, Jake…I’m not as naive anymore.”

He wondered if that was some kind of warning. “I’ll remember that.”

Leaving the bedroom, he crossed to her front door and opened it.

Tori came up behind him like an angel who moved with no effort at all. “If you talk to Nina or see her, please give her my regards. Maybe she and I can have lunch together sometime.”

“I’m sure she’d like that. I’ll tell her.”

With a last look at the woman Tori Phillips had become, he left her house, hoping taking this job wasn’t a mistake.

When the phone rang the following evening at about eight, Tori wondered if Jake had forgotten something. He’d called earlier with his estimate and she’d given him the go-ahead. Now, she recognized the voice on the other end of the line immediately.

“Tori? It’s Nina.”

“Nina! How are you? Jake told me about your husband. I’m so sorry.”

There was a momentary pause. “It was a shock. But we’re managing now. Shortly after it happened, Jake was…at loose ends. It’s one of the reasons he came back to Santa Fe, and I’m grateful. The boys need him around.”

“I’m glad he could be here for you. How long were you married?”

“Eight years. We…we didn’t have the best marriage.”

Silence fell over the line, and Tori didn’t know what to say to that. Nina had always been very open, and she could tell they’d fallen into the old camaraderie they’d shared as soon as she’d picked up the phone. “Jake tells me you have twins.”

“And you’re going to adopt a baby! I’d love to catch up with you.”

“We could go to lunch someday this week.”

“I have a better idea. Why don’t you come to dinner tomorrow night? You can meet my boys.”

“I don’t want to put you to any trouble.”

“It’s no trouble. Mama does some of the cooking. The guy I’m dating will be here, and so will Jake.”

“Jake?”

“Yeah, he likes a good meal a couple of times a week. Did you two talk about old times?”

“There weren’t that many. He only took me to my prom.”

“You two used to talk when he came into the store.”

“That was rare.”

“I guess he’d just finished at the academy then. He rose through the ranks fast. I just wish…”

Tori wondered why Nina stopped. “You wish what?”

“Did he tell you what happened? Why he came back to Santa Fe?”

“No. But then, he wasn’t here for a social visit, Nina. He came to look at the work I need to have done. Why did he come back to Santa Fe?”

“I’d better let him tell you about all that. He doesn’t like it when I talk about his life.”

“Are you sure he won’t mind me coming to dinner? I mean, he might not want to mix his professional life with his personal life.”

“You’re my guest. And as far as Jake’s concerned, it wouldn’t hurt if his personal life and his professional life got a little mixed up. He has no sense of purpose right now. That was one thing my brother always had.”

This baby was going to give Tori’s life the purpose and meaning she needed. She loved her work at the gallery—promoting artists, finding new ones and giving them a start. But she didn’t feel she was put on this earth to simply work and to make a comfortable life for herself. She wanted to be a mother so badly that tears came to her eyes whenever she thought about it. The car accident she and Dave had been involved in had destroyed her chances to conceive a child naturally. But she had no doubt that she could love the baby she’d seen on that sonogram with all her heart.

“Purpose is important,” she agreed now. “You can give me the real scoop about motherhood, and everything I’ll need to buy that I haven’t even thought about.”

“It will be so good to see you again, Tori.”

“I’m looking forward to it. Just give me the time and directions to your home.”

The sun streamed brightly over San Felipe Avenue the following evening as Tori found Nina’s house and turned into the driveway. A blue-and-tan truck was parked there already, and Tori recognized it as Jake’s.

Picking up the box on the seat beside her—she’d stopped at her favorite chocolatier this afternoon, hoping the assortment of candies would be something everyone would enjoy—she took a deep breath and readied herself to see Jake again.

However, as she rang the bell and waited on the pink concrete porch, she was unprepared for the astonishment on Jake’s face when he saw her.

Spying the box of candy in her hand, appraising her claret pants and top, he put two and two together. “Nina invited you to dinner?” His tone was neutral.

“Yes. I assumed she’d tell you. I—”

Shoving her brother aside none too gently, Nina appeared in jeans and a purple-checked blouse, spotted Tori and managed to tug her inside, hugging her at the same time. “It’s so good to see you.”

Nina was a petite version of her brother, feminine in every way he was masculine. Her black hair was still long and straight. Except for a facial line here and there, she didn’t look much different than she had at eighteen.

Pulling Tori into the small living room that seemed overcrowded with people, she reintroduced Tori to her mother, Rita Galeno, who had aged considerably. In her mid-fifties now, her hair had gone completely gray and she still wore it in an oblong bun pinned at the back of her head.

She smiled at Tori. “I remember you. You were the one who convinced Nina her eyes were too pretty to wear all that mascara and eyeshadow on them.”

A sandy-haired man with twinkling blue eyes who had moved closer to Nina after she’d hugged Tori, now circled Nina’s waist with his arm. “You used to wear all that goop?”

Nina laughed. “I was young, defiant and knew all I needed to know. Until Tori came along. Tori, this is my…friend, Charlie Nexley.”

“He’s not her friend,” a child of about five piped up. “He’s her boyfriend.”

“Ricky,” Nina warned the child, who was obviously the identical twin of the boy standing not far from his elbow.

“We saw them smooching,” his brother said with a solemn nod.

When Nina’s face flushed, Jake stepped in. Crouching down, he wrapped an arm around each boy’s shoulder. “Ricky, Ryan, this pretty lady is Ms. Phillips. Your mom and I knew her a long time ago.”

“When you were a kid?” Ryan asked innocently.

Jake chuckled. “Not quite that long ago. Now, why don’t we go out back and get out of everybody’s hair?” Without another look at Tori, Jake stood and ushered the boys to the back door.

Without Jake’s presence in the room, Tori felt a definite decrease in tension. She offered the box of candy to Nina. “Here’s something for everybody’s sweet tooth.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

Charlie accepted the box and said with a grin, “I’d better put this out of sight. At least until the boys have had their dinner.”

Nina gave him a grateful smile.

As Charlie moved into the kitchen, Rita pushed herself up from the recliner. “I’d better check on the soup.”

Nina winked at Tori. “Tomato and rice with lots of green chilies. She smothered the chicken in roasted hot peppers, too. I hope you’re up for it.”

“It sounds delicious.” Tori placed her purse on a small pine table just inside the door. “Nina, thanks for inviting me today. But…Jake acted as if he didn’t know I was coming.”

“He didn’t.”

An uncomfortable silence stretched between the two women until Tori broke it. “Do you think that’s fair to him? He might not have wanted a stranger—”

“You’re no stranger. He probably thinks of Charlie as more of a stranger than you. If I had told him you were coming, he might not have come himself. There’s something in his voice when he talks about you that makes me think…” She grinned. “Maybe there are a few sparks?”

Tori wasn’t going to admit to anything. “Maybe your imagination is working overtime.”

Nina studied Tori for a moment, then shook her head. “Nope. I know what I see. The truth is, Tori, I asked you here because Jake needs help.”

Tori couldn’t imagine Jake Galeno needing anything from anyone. He’d always seemed so confident and self-contained. “What kind of help?”

“I don’t know. That’s the problem. He doesn’t, either. Something happened in Albuquerque that he can’t get over. It had to do with his work. He needs to talk about it, but he won’t. He needs to get past it, but he can’t. He needs to get on with his life, and he says he’s doing that, but he’s not. I just thought inviting you tonight might get him to open up a bit. He’s only his old self when he’s with the boys. Maybe you can remind him who he used to be.”

“Maybe I’ll only make things worse.”

“That won’t happen. C’mon. You can watch while I make the salad.”

While Nina worked and talked, Tori couldn’t help but glance out the window often. Jake didn’t look like a man who needed help. He was roughhousing with the twins, laughing with them, playing catch. Even when he was young, she’d sensed a deep control about him, an integrity that told everybody he knew who he was and what he could do. That was still the essence of his appearance. But what was going on inside? What had happened in Albuquerque?

She shouldn’t care. She wouldn’t care.

She’d learned when she was very young that men didn’t stay. She’d been nine when her father had walked out on her mother because he’d fallen in love with someone else. She’d seen her mother’s tears, pain and depression. She’d seen her father’s second marriage break apart, until she’d lost track of him and his second, third and fourth wives. When Tori had married after college, she decided her marriage would be different. It might have been if fate hadn’t intervened and changed the course of her life. Dave had walked out on her because she could no longer bear his children.

So much for vows. So much for putting faith and trust in a man. She would never do it again.

As Tori, Nina and her mother discussed their favorite recipes, Charlie went to the carport to check the pressure of Nina’s tires. He told her he thought one of them looked low.

Soon after, Nina went to the door and called for the boys to come in and wash up. As they bounded toward the bathroom, Jake entered the kitchen, heading for the sink.

Tori was standing right beside it, boxed in by the counter. The working area of the kitchen was small, and there really wasn’t anywhere she could move without looking obvious.

When Jake turned on the spigot, he was close enough to her that she could see the gleam of sweat on his brow and inhale his scent, which seemed to be sunshine and sage and all man. For a moment her senses reeled and she told herself she was being silly. But she couldn’t seem to take her gaze from the black hair on his forearms, from the soapy suds slipping over his large hands.

“Catching up?” he asked as he flipped off the spigot.

It took her a moment to find her voice. “Sharing favorite recipes.”

“I should have known,” he said with a smile. “What else would three women do in a kitchen?”

With a slight shift of his body, he turned toward her. He was so close she could feel his body heat…feel a current of electricity between them immobilize her as she became fascinated by the whorl of hair nestled in the V of his green T-shirt.

He reached behind her, brushing her back. “I need the towel,” he explained, his voice husky.

Their gazes locked, and she vividly remembered the moment on her front porch twelve years ago when his arms had encircled her and his head had lowered to kiss her. The smoldering look in his eyes now convinced her he was remembering, too, maybe thinking about what it would be like to kiss her again.

As he lifted the towel from the counter and took a few steps back, she chided herself for being ridiculous.

Finished with the towel, he hung it over the oven door handle. “Where’s Charlie?” he asked Nina.

“Checking my tire pressure.”

He frowned. “I was going to do that. In fact—”

Jake never got to finish because the twins ran back into the kitchen. Nina directed them to set the table in the dining area, where she had stacked dishes, silverware and napkins.

Both boys grumbled and groaned.

Ryan protested the loudest. “I want to go outside and watch Charlie.”

Jake crooked his finger at them, and they scampered to him, looking up expectantly. “If you help your mom get ready for dinner without complaining, I’ll take you for ice cream afterward.”

“Carlo’s Place?” Ricky asked, wanting to put terms to the deal. “Two scoops?”

“You got it,” Jake said with a nod.

As the boys ran to the table, Nina scolded her brother. “That was a bribe.”

“Yes, it was. But I figured it was a small price to pay so they didn’t argue with you for the next ten minutes.”

“Sometimes you have to stand on principle,” Nina grumbled.

“Getting things done is better than principle,” Rita insisted. “After all, your brother’s the expert at negotiation.”

At Rita’s remark, a smothering hush fell over the kitchen.

Tori glanced from sister to brother to mother, not understanding the sudden tension and the somberness that seemed to have taken over Jake’s whole demeanor.

“Jake, I’m sorry,” his mother said, looking upset. “I didn’t mean—”

“I know you didn’t,” Jake said quietly. “Forget about it. I’m going to see if Charlie found the tire gauge.”

Then Jake Galeno exited the kitchen, leaving Tori with unsettling questions she didn’t think Nina or Rita were going to answer.

Chapter Two

D inner with the Galenos was an adventure, Tori decided, as she sat between Jake and Ricky. She made herself concentrate on the twins—that was easier than dealing with the attraction she still felt for Jake—and paid attention to everything they did. Maybe she’d learn something about parenting as she watched Nina interact with them.

When Ricky spilled his milk, it ran off the table and onto Tori’s thigh. Nina was much more upset than she was.

Ricky looked upset, too, as if he was ready to cry, until Tori smiled at him. “Milk will wash right out.” She gave him her napkin. “Come on, help me mop it up.”

While he scurried to wipe the drips on the chair, she helped Nina with the table. She caught Jake watching her and wished she knew what he was thinking. Then again, maybe she didn’t want to know. Every time his arm grazed hers, every time he reached for a platter or serving dish, she was much too aware of his scent, as well as his sheer physical presence. Surely she didn’t still have a crush on him after all these years! Maybe these vibrations were what dating experts called chemistry? If so, she’d never experienced it before…except when she was a teenager and Jake was anywhere within ten feet of her.

After dinner, in spite of Nina’s and Rita’s protests, Tori helped clean up. She wasn’t the type to sit while others worked. When they’d finished in the kitchen, they joined the men on the patio.

Ricky pulled on Jake’s arm. “When are we going for ice cream?”

“We just had dinner,” Jake replied with a grin.

“I saved room,” Ricky insisted, then looked at Tori. “Are you coming, too?”

“Oh, I don’t know…” she began.

Approaching her chair, Ricky wheedled, “Uncle Jake says it’s the best ice cream in Santa Fe. Mom and grandma won’t come because they say they’ll get fat if they eat it.”

When Ryan added, “Please come,” she looked into their dark-brown eyes and couldn’t refuse.

“Only if it’s all right with your uncle Jake.”

A glance at Jake told her nothing. “Of course you’re welcome to come.” His face was perfectly blank, and his eyes reflected none of his thoughts.

Carlo’s Place was a few blocks away—a small, brown stucco building with two parking spaces.

“Most of his customers are within walking distance,” Jake explained as if reading her thoughts.

The bench seat of Jake’s truck had seemed much too intimate during their drive here.

After the boys unfastened their seat belts in the back, Jake helped them out. His truck’s running board was high off the ground.

“If you wait, I’ll give you a hand,” he offered.

The last thing she wanted was Jake’s skin pressed against hers. “I’m fine.”

She proved it by sliding to the edge of her seat and then hopping down as gracefully as she could. She thought she saw a knowing smile play on Jake’s lips, but couldn’t be sure because it was gone too quickly.

Ten minutes later they were sitting at a round redwood table with a striped yellow-and-white umbrella. The boys’ cones were dripping all over their hands, but Jake was ignoring that, so Tori did, too.

Leaning close to her, Jake murmured, “I have those wet-wipe things in the truck. I wouldn’t go anywhere without them.”

She smiled. “I imagine most kids are messy with ice-cream cones.”

With a quick half shrug, he remarked, “Don’t know. I just know these two can make a mess of whatever they get into.” Looking her squarely in the eye, he asked, “Are you ready for that?”

She didn’t hesitate. “Yes. More than ready. I’ve wanted children for years.”

“Your husband didn’t?”

Confiding in Jake would create a bond between them that Tori didn’t want. It was better if she kept her distance, better if she let the attraction between them sizzle and burn out. “It’s a long story.”

With a penetrating look, Jake sat back and gave his attention to his ice-cream cone, stretching his legs out under the table. The swirl of his tongue on the dessert sent a shiver up Tori’s back.

After he lazily licked chocolate from his lips, he acknowledged, “I guess everybody has one of those stories.”

An awkward stretch of time settled between them as cars sped up and down the street. Ricky and his brother took licks from each other’s cones as dusk settled in and began to envelop the city.

Finally Jake asked, “What did you think of Charlie?”

She’d caught Jake watching Charlie carefully more than once. “I didn’t spend much time talking with him. Nina likes him a lot. He seems good with the boys.”

Jake frowned. “She’s only been dating him for two months. I just met him last weekend when she invited him to Sunday dinner.”

“And?”

“I don’t know. Today you can’t be too careful, that’s all. He’s a car salesman, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I just hope he’s not handing her a line. I can’t believe she’s ready to jump right in so soon after Frank.”

“Maybe she feels the boys need a father figure.”

“They have me.”

Jake’s arm was almost touching hers. Tori sat back and gave him a sideways glance. “Nina’s afraid you aren’t going to stay in Santa Fe. Are you?”

He finished his cone and wiped his fingers on a napkin. “I don’t know. But no matter where I am, I’ll be part of their lives.”

After she took the last bite of her own cone, she wiped her lips. Just then Jake turned toward her, and his gaze lingered where she’d wiped. Feeling hot, bothered and unsettled, she asked, “Why did you come back to Santa Fe?”

The question brought his gaze to hers. Two cars zoomed up the street before he answered her. “I had to get out of police work for a while. I like working with my hands. I’ve done that for years, mostly on weekend projects for friends. I find peace in it, and I need that now.”

Tori had always admired his honesty. She had the feeling Jake was living in the moment, not knowing what was going to happen next. She’d done that after her divorce.

“Speaking of working with ceramic tile,” he said, changing the subject easily, “have you picked out what you want to use yet?”

She shook her head. “I can do that this week. The thing is, I’d love to use hand-painted tiles. I know it would be expensive to use them everywhere, but I hoped I could find some to use as accents here and there. I haven’t had a chance to look into it, though.”

“I know someone who does hand-painted work. He lives in Taos. If you’d like to see what he has to offer, we could drive up there on Saturday afternoon. Can you get away?”

“I have one full-time assistant and someone who helps part-time. Let me check with them. If they can both work, I’ll take the day off.”

The twins had finished their cones now, too, and were jabbing each other with sticky fingers, squealing and jumping from their chairs to play tag around the table.

“Okay. It’s time to put a lid on it,” Jake announced. He motioned to the truck. “Let’s move on out. Don’t touch anything until I wipe your hands.”

Without the complaining Tori expected, Ricky and Ryan looked up at their uncle, then raced to his truck.

Jake’s expression was affectionately patient.

As Tori followed Jake and the boys, she noticed again how Ricky and Ryan adored him. Why had he never married and become a father?

When Tori’s telephone rang Saturday afternoon, she wondered if Jake was calling to tell her he’d be delayed or couldn’t go to Taos. After their trip to Carlo’s Place, he’d become quiet, more remote. A little voice full of common sense told her that was best. If they got to know each other better…

However, picking up the phone, she heard Barbara Simmons’s voice.

“Hi! Tori?”

“How are you?” Tori asked, always glad to hear from the teenager, yet always fearful, too.

Once Barbara signed the consent papers to give up her parental rights, her decision was irrevocable. She understood that and had asked the court to allow Tori to act as the baby’s legal guardian for sixty days before she signed the final papers. In essence, Tori would become the parent, but not officially. She’d agreed to those terms because Barbara was an intelligent, sensitive young woman, just trying to do what was best for her and her baby. And once Tori had seen that baby’s picture on the sonogram, she’d fallen in love with him. She had wanted to be a mother so badly, she was willing to take this risk.

“I gained another two pounds,” Barbara almost wailed. “Dr. Glessner said it’s okay, but I have to get it all off afterward. I’ll only have three months. I don’t want to be fat when I go to college.”

“You’ve been officially accepted for the winter term?”

“Yes. The letter came last week. Mom and I have been shopping for everything I’ll need.”

Just as Tori had been shopping for baby supplies. Her closet was full of them, and she couldn’t wait to get the baby’s room ready. As soon as Jake did the closet and patched the plaster, she could paint.

Her doorbell rang.

Carrying the cordless phone with her, she opened it. Her heart fluttered. Jake looked incredibly sexy in a beige polo shirt and jeans.

Still, she concentrated on Barbara as she motioned him inside.

“I just wanted to tell you,” Barbara went on, “that the doctor said everything’s A-okay. I can’t wait to get this over with. I can hardly see my feet.”

In a few weeks, she would be bringing Barbara’s baby home. “Keep me up to date on how you’re doing. You know I like your progress reports. And stop by if you want to talk.” It was better to know than to guess exactly what Barbara was thinking about everything.

Whenever she talked to Barbara, fear crept into Tori’s heart—fear that the young woman would change her mind, that she wouldn’t go through with the adoption. It was a worry Tori couldn’t put out of her head.

After she said goodbye to Barbara, she pushed the worry aside and smiled at Jake. She remembered again how good he was with his nephews, how much he enjoyed them.

Then she breathed in the scent of his spicy aftershave and forgot about his nephews. “I just have to grab my purse. Would you like something to drink before we go?”

He shook his head. “I told Luis we’d be there around two. We’d better get going.”

A few minutes later Tori was sitting beside Jake in the truck and awkwardness hung between them. Jake’s remote attitude gave her the feeling he didn’t want to make this trip with her, even though he’d suggested it. “You know, Jake, if you’d given me the directions, I could have driven up here myself.”

“Luis’s place isn’t easy to find.”

“I can follow directions and I can read a map.”

“Some women don’t like to go to strange places by themselves.”

“And some women don’t mind. I guess I’m one of them.”

At that he glanced at her. “You’re as independent as Nina.”

“Is that a compliment?”

A smile twitched the corner of his lip. “Yeah, I suppose. Independent women are just thorny to deal with sometimes.”

“As are remote men,” she returned before she could stop herself.

The hum of the truck’s engine filled the cab as the tires ate up the distance to Taos. Tori stared out the window. She never tired of the Southwest’s beauty, a beauty that seemed to change with each passing mile, with the angle of the sun, with the time of the day.

The mountains up ahead were cloaked in sunlight, and streams of it played over peaks and valleys, brush and earth. Sometimes Tori yearned to wrap herself in the scenery and just let the landscape of the yucca, sage and piñon beat through her in primitive rhythms. As old as the land, the vibrations were the same kind of primitive rhythms that thrummed through her with Jake only a couple of feet away.

Except for a glance at her every once in awhile, a flip of the switch to start the tape on the truck’s cassette player, Tori thought Jake was lost in his own world.

Finally he asked, “Was that the mother of the baby you’re going to adopt on the phone? I couldn’t help overhearing.”

It seemed funny discussing this with Jake. She hadn’t really discussed the adoption with anyone but her lawyer and her mother. “Yes, her name’s Barbara. She was accepted for the winter term of college and is looking forward to it.”

“When’s her due date?”

“September twenty-ninth.”

“And then you’ll be a mother.” The way Jake said it made her think he was reminding himself of that.

Because her worries were so very tied up with her joy, she murmured, “Not exactly.”

“What do you mean?”

“Once Barbara signs the papers, her decision is irrevocable. But she’s smart enough to understand that feelings aren’t something you turn on and off like a water spigot, so she asked for a sixty-day grace period. I’ll be legal guardian as soon as the baby’s born, but Barbara won’t have to make the final decision for sixty days.”

“You agreed to that?” There was concerned amazement in the question.

“I don’t know how to explain this, Jake, but I can’t imagine any woman giving up her baby and not having doubts. I don’t want to adopt a baby and then have some kind of war afterward because the mother changes her mind. I want Barbara to be absolutely sure about what she’s doing. If those sixty days will do it, then I’m prepared for life to be a little uncertain for that amount of time.”

“But what if you’ve cared for this baby and Barbara does change her mind?”

“I don’t believe that will happen. I wouldn’t have agreed to this if I thought it might. She wants to be a doctor. Her mother wants her to be a doctor. Her mom’s divorced and won’t accept care of Barbara’s baby. She won’t even help her with it, because she believes Barbara will be destroying her future if she keeps it. Barbara does, too. She chose me out of fifteen women. She cared about every aspect of the social worker’s report. The judge understood that she’s a conscientious teenager who wants the best for everybody involved.”

“I still think you’re taking quite a risk.”

“Maybe I am. But motherhood is a risk, no matter how it happens.” Now she had a question for him. “Do you want kids someday?”

He was silent for a few very long heartbeats, and then he answered firmly, “That isn’t going to happen.”

Why? was on the tip of her tongue. Yet she didn’t let it slip off. If she knew why, that meant they would be getting to know each other much better. If she knew why, she’d be delving into the part of Jake’s life he kept guarded. If she asked why, she had the feeling he wouldn’t tell her, anyway.

The sun’s brilliance made the landscape dance with golden light. It played over the cottonwoods along the Rio Grande. It flowed over the mountains, outlining a ramshackle house here, a small adobe there. And then there was nothing but land and scrub and piñon. Mountain crests seemed to envelope them, only to disclose higher crests, pink earth, more turquoise sky.

Their conversation was minimal after that, and Tori tried to ignore the movement of Jake’s strong, tanned, hair-roughened arms as he guided the steering wheel. His eyes didn’t leave the road now, and she wondered if he thought of her as a woman with more optimism than sense.

When they entered the boundaries of Taos, they passed a few fast-food restaurants. Jake took several side roads then, finally weaving between a few houses surrounded by coyote fence. He stopped at a tan adobe casita with an Open sign taped to a screen door that rattled in the wind.

“Luis told me he has plenty of tile in stock. Unless of course you want something terrifically unusual. I told him that wasn’t likely since you wanted to get the work done quickly.”

Forty-five minutes later, Jake loaded boxes of tiles into the back of his truck, thinking about the ones Tori had chosen. She’d seemed enthused about Luis’s painting. But then, that shouldn’t surprise him. One of the things Jake remembered about Tori was how she became excited over even very small pleasures—colors melting together in a rug, the turquoise-and-coral necklace her mother had given her to wear on her prom night, the Camelot-theme decorations in the hotel ballroom.

And today he’d caught her gazing at the mountains and known she was appreciating their color, their texture, their majesty.

Slamming the tailgate closed on the truck, he decided that being anywhere around her was a mistake. This trip today had been a mistake. After a year, he’d finally found a balance for his emotions, and he didn’t want that balance disrupted by desire that couldn’t be satisfied, beauty that was out of his reach, a woman who’d captivated him as a teenager and now even more so as an adult. He was in temporary mode. Tori was about to become a mother. He never intended to get married. She was the type of woman who deserved vows.

Climbing into the driver’s seat, his mood darkened as he caught another whiff of her perfume and noticed the creaminess of her skin where her sleek hair fell against her neck. He turned the key in the ignition.

He’d taken a side road toward the center of Taos when Tori asked, “Do you have to be back at any special time?”

He certainly wasn’t in the mood to prolong this outing, to corral his libido and fight his fantasies. “Why?”

“There’s a church near the Plaza—Our Lady of Guadalupe. There’s a painting inside that I just love. I thought maybe we could stop there for a few minutes. Would you mind?”

It had been a while since he’d been in a church, even before Marion had died. In his work he’d seen too much of the seedier side of life to think a few prayers could fix anything. When he’d attended Marion Montgomery’s funeral, the ritual and ceremony and words from the priest had only made him feel guiltier, as if he didn’t deserve to be remembering her with the other mourners.

Tori could read his hesitation. “It’s okay. I can visit another time.”

They were less than three minutes from the church parking lot. He wouldn’t deny her such a simple request. “It’s no problem.” Silently, he made the turn that would take them to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

After they parked, they walked toward the rusty-pink adobe church. Tori headed for a door that took them into a vestibule located to the side of the main building.

Stained-glass windows, shadows and the sacred hush compelled Jake to say, “Go ahead. I’ll wait here.” As he wandered over to the brochures in a wall rack, he added, “Take your time,” although he was hoping she would get her fill in a few minutes and they could be on their way.

He knew the painting she spoke of on the side wall of the church. It portrayed Our Lady of Guadalupe and her appearance to an Indian on a hilltop in Mexico. Golden light shone all around her.

After he’d read every brochure in the holder, after he’d studied the church bulletin, after he’d stared at the stained-glass windows, there wasn’t one more thing to occupy him. He wandered toward the doors leading into the church, and he saw Tori—not in a pew near the painting, but rather on the kneeler in the small alcove in back where candles were lit. As she looked up at the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, he knew what she was praying for.

Finally she stood, blessed herself and joined him in the vestibule. The dimness of the lights, the hushed silence of a holy place seemed to form a net around them.

“You prayed that Barbara wouldn’t change her mind, didn’t you,” he said, his voice husky.

Tori nodded. “I want what’s best for her baby, but I want to be a mother so much it hurts.”

He had no bolstering words for her. He’d been gifted with words before he’d sent Marion into the hostage situation. He’d known what to say and how to say it and the best person to say it to. Now words always eluded him when he needed them most.

When he stepped outside into the sunshine, he didn’t think he could bear being confined in the truck with Tori again right away. “How would you like to walk up to the Plaza? We can stretch before the ride back.”

“Are you sure you have time?”

“I’ll make the time.”

As they strolled side by side the couple of blocks, hot sun bounced off the pavement. The breeze tossed tendrils of Tori’s hair along her cheek. Jake longed to brush them away. He longed to do a hell of a lot more than that.

Taking Tori’s elbow, the feel of her skin was soft and almost scorching under his callused fingers. After he ushered her across the street, they took the ramp that led down into the Plaza where huge trees were surrounded with adobe borders and a dark brown cross stood as a memorial to veterans. He was guiding her toward one of the benches when he stopped cold.

“What’s wrong?” Tori asked.

The woman coming down the steps from the pavilion looked like Marion’s mother, Elaine. She had the same short salt-and-pepper hair, wore the same flowing broomstick skirt.

Then the sun hit her face and Jake realized the woman was a stranger. He felt relieved. He hadn’t said two words to Marion’s mother since her daughter had been killed, and he’d steeled himself for the confrontation ever since he’d been back in Santa Fe, since that was where the woman lived. He knew the possibility existed they could run into each other—in a mall, in a restaurant, on the street. Even in Taos.

“What’s wrong?” Tori asked again.

“Nothing.”

Her hand clasped his forearm. “Something is wrong.”

What was wrong was that the past year hadn’t eased his guilt or the memory of what had happened one iota. “I’m fine,” he said evenly, wanting Tori to drop it.

“I don’t think you are. You’re different than you used to be.”

That comment snapped his gaze to hers. “Hell, yes, I’m different! And so are you. It’s been twelve years, Tori. The police work I did taught me a few things and opened my eyes to others.”

“Who was that woman?” she asked.

He realized that when his gaze had riveted on the older woman, Tori couldn’t help but notice. “I thought I recognized her, but I was wrong.”

“Who did you think she was?”

“Drop it, Tori. Just drop it. I’m going to be doing some work for you. That doesn’t give you the right to pry into my life.”

When he saw the hurt on Tori’s face, he almost apologized. Then he told himself that a wall between them was a good thing. “We’d better get back.”

She didn’t argue, and he could see that she now wanted to end this outing as much as he did.

Chapter Three

T o Jake’s dismay, when he arrived at Tori’s on Tuesday morning her car was still in the carport. She’d given him a key to her house after their uncomfortable ride home from Taos, and he’d hoped she’d have already left for work when he arrived. But it was only eight o’clock, and he guessed the gallery didn’t open until nine.

Instead of using the key, he pressed his finger to the doorbell. He was surprised when, after a couple of minutes, Tori didn’t answer. Certainly she’d be up by now. He pressed the bell again. Still no answer.

Maybe she was having a cup of coffee on the back patio and couldn’t hear the bell.

Following the narrow pathway around the carport to the back, he saw the patio was empty. Maybe she went for a run as part of an exercise regimen. Maybe she’d walked to a coffee shop or a bakery.

Wherever she was, it didn’t matter. He had to get started. The sooner he got this job done, the sooner he’d be out of her life. End of sleepless nights, vivid dreams and heart-stopping urges that made him feel as if he’d been kicked in the gut.

He couldn’t remember when a woman had ever made him feel so turned inside out.

Using the key Tori had supplied, he opened her front door. When he called her name, she didn’t reply.

Returning to his truck, he took his toolbox out of the back and carried it into the house. He’d set up the saw on the patio. First he’d work on the closet in the baby’s room, building and fitting shelves, attaching a low bar that a child could eventually reach. When he’d discussed prefabricated closet organizers with Tori, she’d wanted this done the old-fashioned way. He didn’t blame her. The fixtures would be sturdier and last a lot longer. Hopefully he’d finish the closet today and could begin the patch plastering. This job could go into next week when all was said and done.

He was headed down the hall to the baby’s room when the bathroom door suddenly opened. Tori stood there with one pink towel wrapped around her head and another fetchingly tucked in at her breasts. The sight of her long, graceful legs made him forget all sense of propriety.

He swore just as she gasped, “Jake!”

“I rang the bell,” he managed to say in a low, accusing tone, controlled with a great deal of effort.

“I must have been in the shower. I overslept this morning and I’m running late. I thought I could get dressed before you arrived.”

“It’s after eight.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was clutching both the towel at her breasts and the one enfolding her hair as if her life depended on holding them in place. Almost mechanically he offered, “If I’m going to be in your way, I can start out on the patio.”

“No. You won’t be in my way. But I…” Her face was red, and turning redder. “Could you…could you just turn your back until I get into the bedroom? I’m afraid something’s going to give way…”

He realized he was waiting for exactly that. If the towel slipped… He kicked himself for being a boor. “Sure.” He swiftly turned and faced the living room. “I didn’t mean to barge in on you like this.”

“No problem,” she said a bit breathlessly as she scurried down the hall to her room. “It’s my fault for not setting my alarm last night. I was writing in my journal until late and I fell asleep.”

As he glanced over his shoulder, he saw she was hidden behind her bedroom door now. Only her head and one shoulder peeked out. The turban had apparently come loose because she swiped that towel away. Her wet hair framed her face. She looked vulnerable, younger than the thirty he knew she was and tempting enough to kiss.

Concentrating on her words rather than his last thought, he said, “Someone once suggested I do that. Keep a journal. But I couldn’t see the point.” Before he’d decided to take a leave of absence from the police department, he’d had sessions with one of the psychologists.

“Oh, there is a point to keeping a journal. It helps me sort things out. It helps me articulate thoughts that haven’t completely formed yet. Putting them down on paper somehow releases them from my head and my heart.”

Although he knew he shouldn’t, he couldn’t help closing some of the space between them. “Maybe you just have a talent for it.”

She shook her head and her wet hair swung. “It doesn’t take talent. It just takes time and…honesty.”

That was the crux of the matter. Maybe he knew if he was completely honest with himself, he’d never recover from what had happened in Albuquerque.

As they gazed at each other, the space in the small hall seemed filled with sparks of electricity. He was much too conscious of what she wasn’t wearing, of the bed a few feet from her door. How did he get drawn into conversations with Tori that opened up places he wanted to keep closed?

With a great effort he decided that a lighter touch would be best. So he forced a smile. “I’d better get started or I’ll still be here when you get home for supper.”

Then he went into the baby’s room to examine the areas that needed to be plastered. Working with his hands would help him forget about a woman he was thinking entirely too much about touching.

Tori’s arms were full of packages when she returned home that evening. As she peeked into the nursery, she saw Jake sweeping debris into a corner. “I left work a little early. One of the department stores was having a terrific sale on baby clothes.”

All day she’d thought about Jake seeing her barely dressed, the look in his eyes when he had. Her gaze swept the room and the work he’d done. “It looks great. How soon can I paint?”

“I’ll finish the plastering tomorrow. You should give it at least ten days.”

“Barbara’s not due for three weeks. I might be able to get it painted and let it air out. I plan to keep the baby with me in my room for the first week, anyway.” She knew she was babbling, but she was still embarrassed about this morning, and talking kept her less aware of Jake.

“You might not get much sleep. Babies make all kinds of sounds,” he offered practically.

“I doubt if I’ll get much sleep, anyway. We’ll see.”

One of the bags in her arms started to slip, and she would have dropped everything if he hadn’t strode quickly toward her and taken a few of the bags. He smelled like man, and work, and stirred up sensations she’d kept a lid on for years. When he was this close, all she could think about was kissing him.

“Where do you want these?” he asked huskily.

Breaking eye contact, she went over to the closet, examining the prepainted shelves he’d installed and the bar securely fastened in the lower section. “We can put all the bags in there for now.”

She was stacking her purchases on the shelves when he approached with the ones he held. His arm brushed against hers. “I thought you’d be gone when I got home,” she murmured.

“It didn’t work out that way,” he said easily, though his eyes had gone almost black, and she glimpsed the fire and intensity there.

She knew both emanated from a place inside Jake that had led him into police work. Why was he working with tile, instead? She decided to go at the conversation sideways. “I guess you put in less hours now than you did on the police force.”

His expression became wary. “I suppose that’s true.”

“The night of the prom when I asked you why you were going into police work, you said you wanted to make the world a better place. Was that the only reason?”

As he thought about her question, she held her breath. She needed to know this piece of the puzzle.

Straightening the packages he’d set on the shelves, he finally answered her. “I became a cop because of my father.”

Tori hadn’t known anything about Nina’s family when she’d worked with her all those years ago. She’d met her mother once or twice, and back then Rita Galeno had seemed quiet and reserved, maybe even withdrawn. Much different from the way she’d been the other night. “Your father encouraged you?”

Jake gave a humorless, short laugh and turned away. “Not in the way you mean. He was an angry man—angry at the world for the hand it had dealt him. When he drank, the anger would come out. If a meal displeased him, if Nina and I made too much noise, he’d erupt like a volcano.”

“Did you know why he was angry?”

Leaving her standing at the closet, Jake once again picked up the broom. “Because of me. My mom was pregnant with me and they had to get married. I never saw one happy moment in their marriage. She never stood up to him, never wanted more than she had. I was about twelve when I asked her why she stayed. She was so matter-of-fact about it. She said Dad earned a good living, and she had no education and two children to raise. How could she make it on her own? I came to believe that my father didn’t want to be married or responsible for a family, and that’s what kept him short-tempered. My mother was always sad because she felt like a hostage.”

“So…why police work? To intervene in domestic disputes?”

This time Jake’s answer came more slowly. “I learned very young that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Whenever Dad was volatile, my tone of voice, the right words and a sympathetic ear could defuse his anger. When I joined the police force, I think I did it simply because I wanted to keep peace. Everything I’d learned with my father led me into hostage-negotiation work, and eventually I supervised and was a primary negotiator on the team.”

Supervisor of the negotiations team—the epitome of protection and responsibility. “Why did you leave?” she asked quietly.

He kept sweeping. “It doesn’t matter.”

She knew that wasn’t true. But it was obvious Jake was drawing a boundary between them, a boundary that now felt too restrictive.

“Jake…” she began.

Propping the broom against the wall, he approached her, his eyes dark and piercing. “Leave it alone, Tori.”

But she couldn’t. “Why?”

“Because my life cracked into a thousand pieces and I’m trying to glue it back together. It’s a solitary road.”

That was another piece of the puzzle she needed to understand him. “You’ve always chosen the solitary road, haven’t you.”

“Yes.”

Good sense urged her to look away. She knew she shouldn’t let desire rise inside her. Most of all, she shouldn’t let Jake see it. But gazing into his eyes now, she knew she wanted to touch him. She knew she needed to feel his lips on hers. Maybe she needed to prove that everything she’d remembered about their kiss twelve years ago had been a teenage girl’s dream.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he warned hoarsely.

But she was powerless to turn away. She wanted to taste passion again, even if it was only for a moment.

With a deep groan, Jake took her by the shoulders and bent his head to hers.

Tori had anticipated the kiss, had been longing for it. But he didn’t set his lips on hers. Not right away. His tongue outlined them first. She shivered, even more eager for the feel of his mouth. Even in that kiss at eighteen, she’d known Jake was experienced. That experience still showed as he teased her. Then, as if he couldn’t stand the torture, either, he finally sealed his lips to hers.

When his hips pressed against hers, her breath caught. He was obviously attracted to her as much as she was attracted to him. His hands left her shoulders as his arms enveloped her, and along with desire, she felt the safety of a strong man’s embrace.

She’d never, ever experienced anything like this—not the tingling fire in her limbs, not the excitement twirling in her stomach, not the intoxicating knowledge that he wanted her.

Her marriage to Dave had been staid and comfortable—before the accident. What would Jake say if he knew she couldn’t have children?

That thought fled with all the others as his tongue coaxed her lips apart and she found herself lost in a land that was as primordial as the high desert, as dizzying as the tallest mountain, as vast as the universe. She melted into him as he securely held her, tempted her, intoxicated her.

Then as suddenly as black clouds gathered over the mountains, Jake pulled away, leaving her standing alone. His eyes were black with turbulence, his face grim with regret. “That was a mistake. It won’t happen again.” He looked almost fierce in his certainty of that.

Tori strove to put her scrambled thoughts in order, still trembling from the power of the passion that had risen between them. “Because you don’t know where you’re going?” she asked shakily.

“Because we both have lives that are more complicated than we know what to do with. You’re going to be a mother, and that child is going to come first, isn’t he?”

She nodded, knowing her life would revolve around her child, knowing there was no room for the doubt and uncertainty a relationship with a man would bring.

“I don’t think you’re the type of woman who would have the inclination to hop into a man’s bed while a baby’s crying in the room next door.”

He knew her, maybe even better than she knew herself. She was usually cautious, analyzing everything three different ways. But the feelings Jake aroused had made her forget caution, and she couldn’t do that—especially not with a baby to think of.

She didn’t know what to say any more than she knew what to do. There was no reason she should feel like a tongue-tied teenager around Jake, but she felt as naive and vulnerable as she had after his kiss the night of the prom. “You’ll be back tomorrow?” she asked, looking around the room, wanting to make sure he’d finish the job he’d started.

“I’ll be back tomorrow. I’m hoping to finish this by Friday.” Then he turned and left.

When she heard the door shut, she took one very deep breath, closed her eyes and thought about getting the room ready for her baby.

On Thursday Jake was working in the bathroom when Tori returned home. It was a few minutes before five and she had hoped to catch him still here. They needed to clear the air. Yesterday he hadn’t arrived until after she’d left, and he’d been gone before she’d gotten back home. It was fine if that was the way he wanted to play it. But Nina had asked her to go shopping with her on Sunday, and if they renewed their friendship, there was no way Jake was going to be able to avoid her completely.

When she peeked into the bathroom, he was washing down a section of tile. He glanced over his shoulder and her heart sped up when his gaze locked with hers. The kiss and everything she’d felt while he was kissing her hummed through her with vibrations that could still shake her.

He broke eye contact first and continued wiping the tiles. “I’m almost finished here. I’ll be out of your hair in a few minutes.” His wide-legged rigid stance as he stood in her bathtub told her he was remembering the kiss, too.

“I made stew in the crockpot this morning and it’s ready. Would you like some?”

“Tori, I don’t think it’s a good idea—”

“We need to clear the air. I thought we could talk. It’s a bowl of stew, Jake, not a full-course meal.” Her attempt to lighten the atmosphere didn’t work.

“I need to wash up.”

She pointed to the sink. “The soap’s in the cupboard underneath. If you really don’t want to stay, that’s fine. But Nina and I are going to be friends again, it seems, and you and I might run into each other. It would be better if there isn’t all this…awkwardness between us.”

At her attempt to characterize whatever was between them, the corners of his lips twitched up. “Awkwardness is a new way of putting it.” At last he nodded. “All right. I’ll have a bowl of stew with you. I have a clean shirt in the truck.”

A short time later, Jake came to the table in a clean black T-shirt that stretched appealingly over his broad shoulders and hugged the muscles of his upper arms. At that moment Tori almost panicked. Maybe she’d been wrong about this tête-à-tête. Could she learn to be just a casual friend to Jake when her heart always pounded furiously in his presence?

He motioned to the table. “Looks like more than a bowl of stew.”

She’d bought a fresh loaf of bread on her lunch hour and made a quick salad while he’d washed up.

“Nothing fancy,” she assured him. “I would’ve done the same for myself. Should I make a pot of coffee?”

“No. This is fine.”

It was obvious he didn’t want to linger. He’d eat her stew, have the talk and get out of her house as quickly as he could.

Jake waited for her to sit before he lowered himself into his chair. “It smells good.”

He was making conversation, but she could tell he was on guard.

“My mother’s recipe. She used to prepare most meals before she left for work. Then we had more time to spend together in the evenings.”

“It was just you and your mom?”

“My father left when I was nine. My mother went to night school and became a paralegal.”

Something in her voice must have hinted at the hurt still there. “Are you in contact with your dad now?”

“No. A few years ago I heard he and his fourth wife moved to Missouri.”

“Fourth wife?”

“He falls in and out of love easily. At least, that’s what my mother always told me. But I don’t think it’s love at all. He finds a woman who suits his needs for the moment, and when she doesn’t, he moves on.”

After a few spoonfuls of stew, Jake remarked, “That’s the way some people look at marriage.”

“Your parents stayed together.”

“For all the wrong reasons. Their marriage kept them both in a prison. My father’s resentment made him mean. From what I can see, marriage is a trap.”

Tori could understand why Jake believed as he did. Yet… “Maybe if two people marry for the right reason—”

Her phone rang and she murmured to Jake, “I’ll just let the machine take that.” But a few seconds later when she heard, “Ms. Phillips, this is Detective Trujillo from the Santa Fe Police Department. The jewelry store a few shops down from yours was robbed this evening and—”

Jumping up from her chair, Tori grabbed the handset. “Detective Trujillo? This is Tori Phillips. Did someone break into my gallery?”

“We don’t think so, ma’am, but we’d like you to come down here and check things over. We’d like to see if your security system was tampered with.”

“I can be there in ten minutes. Should I meet you out front?”

“That will be fine.”

Putting the cordless phone back in its stand, she looked at Jake. “I’m sorry about this, but I have to go to the gallery. The detective wants me to make sure the thief didn’t try to get inside.”

“I know Phil Trujillo. We went to the academy in Albuquerque together. Do you want me to come with you?”

“Do you want to?”

“No,” he said with a slow smile. It was the one she remembered from so long ago. “But I might be able to get information from Phil that you can’t. Detectives investigating a case are tight-lipped.”

She had the feeling that Jake was itching to get back into police work, but something was stopping him. Maybe she’d find out what that was tonight. “I’d be glad to have you along. I’ve never had an almost-break-in before.”

“Then let’s go see if your security system kept your gallery safe.”

Perceptions was located in a small plaza with a string of other shops. Tori’s shop, situated at the closed U end of the parking lot, was white stucco and attached to a bakery on the right. On the left, a brick pathway ran parallel to the narrow driveway that led to the rear entrance. There were two police cruisers, their lights still flashing, blocking the entrance to the walkway that wended to Tori’s shop, the bakery, and the adjoining building, where the jewelry store was located next to a leather boutique.

Jake and Tori climbed out of his truck, then angled around a cruiser to her gallery.

The detective who was standing at the door, his arms crossed over his chest, recognized Jake immediately. “Galeno! What are you doing here? Going to join the Santa Fe PD?”

“I was with Tori when she got your call. Just thought I’d come along as a concerned friend to find out what was going on.”

“Not much,” the detective said. “We’re waiting for the owner of the bakery and that leather shop. Just wanted to make sure nothing else was tampered with. As you can see, we dusted for prints on the knob and around the door. Same thing at the back entrance. But even if we find prints that match any at the jewelry store, that doesn’t mean we’ve found our guy. Shoppers, especially tourists, go from one shop to the next. That right, Ms. Phillips?”

“Yes, it is.” Taking her key from her purse, she asked, “Is it all right if I open the door?”

The detective nodded, watching her closely. She noticed Jake was watching her, too, and then she saw why. There were scratches around the keyhole. She didn’t know what they were from, but she was pretty sure they hadn’t been there earlier when she’d locked up.

She pointed them out to the detective.

“Yeah, we noticed them,” Trujillo offered. “We were waiting to see if you said anything. Any guesses as to what they’re from, Galeno?”

Phil knew Jake would recognize the scratches. “Possibly a pick that slipped. But I don’t get why he would even attempt the front door.”

“The back door’s solid steel, the lock obviously heavy-duty. This one is, too, but it’s not quite so cumbersome,” Tori explained.

“Right on the mark,” Trujillo said.

Taking a few steps back, Jake studied all the stores in the layout. “He might’ve just been making a quick run through here, seeing what was possible and what wasn’t. What happened at the jewelry store?”

“This guy doesn’t have much finesse. If you walk down there, you’ll see he broke the window, set off the alarm, crashed some cases and grabbed what he could. The good stuff was all in the safe, so he didn’t get to that. But the store’s security service tried to call the owner before they called us, so the unsub—unidentified subject,” he explained to Tori, “had time to hightail it out of here. My partner’s interviewing everybody he can find within a decent radius. Ms. Phillips, how about if you turn off that alarm system. I’ll see if anything’s amiss inside.”

Tori opened the door and pressed in the security code. A green light came on. “It’s off,” she murmured.

Detective Trujillo stepped past her, his hand inside his suit coat, as he ordered, “Wait here.”

Tori wasn’t sure what to think, and she looked up at Jake.

He placed a hand on her shoulder. “He just wants to make sure this guy is gone…and was acting alone.”

A few minutes later, the detective beckoned them inside, and Tori took a cursory look around, then made a more detailed search. “I locked up myself tonight a few minutes early. Nothing’s been touched.”

She saw Jake studying the pictures on the walls, the sculptures on stands, the case of unique jewelry and pillboxes, the rack with hand-carved walking sticks. She’d decorated the gallery in the mountain colors of rust, green and blue. It blended with everything she sold, making the ambience of the gallery welcoming, yet sedate, unpretentious, yet undoubtedly exclusive.

Already, Phil Trujillo had opened the door into the room beyond. “Is this for storage?”

“Yes. Right now it’s crammed full of work I’m going to display for Christmas and an artist’s opening coming up.”

She hurried after the detective, saying to Jake, “He needs to be careful with my inventory.”

Jake caught her elbow. “Phil’s no bull in a china shop. He knows what he’s looking for.”

Jake’s fingers were hot on her skin. “And that is?”

He shrugged and released her. “He’ll know when he sees it.”

“Are you speaking from experience?”

“Intuition goes a long way in catching a criminal. But so does good eyesight.”

Jake was being flippant now, but the serious expression on his face told her he didn’t consider any of this a laughing matter.

“Tell me something,” Trujillo said as he reentered the gallery. “Would any of that stuff in there be worth a bundle on the black market?”

Tori motioned to canvases propped against the far wall. “I have a few artists who are well-known and their work is becoming more scarce. The right word in the right circle of private collectors who don’t care about fenced goods, and the thief could set up a nice retirement account.”

“We’re assuming this is a man,” Jake said, “but we shouldn’t necessarily make that assumption, should we, Phil?”

The detective’s eyes became hooded now. He’d shared all the information he’d intended to share. Everything else was not for public consumption. “I like facts better than assumptions.”

While the two men nosed around, Tori checked the remaining inventory in the storage area, once in a while looking over her shoulder.

Finally she admitted, “Everything appears fine in here, too.”

“Then there’s no reason why you can’t return home,” Trujillo said. “Let’s lock it all up and you can be on your way.”

Ten minutes later, as Jake was driving Tori home, he asked, “Have you ever thought about putting a security system in your home?”

“I’ve thought about it.”

“It’s like the tile in your bathroom, right? You’ve been meaning to call somebody sometime, but just haven’t gotten around to it?”

“Exactly,” she admitted as she let out a sigh.

“Do it, Tori. With a baby in the house, you’re not going to want to take any chances.”

She glanced over at him. “I will.”

In her driveway, he didn’t switch off the ignition. “I’ll wait until you’re inside.”

It was almost dark now. “Are you sure you don’t want to come in and have that bowl of stew?”

“Having supper with you wasn’t about the stew in the first place. It was about clearing the air.”

“We haven’t done that.”

“I think we have. You want to stay friends with Nina, and you don’t want to feel awkward around me. Does that about sum it up?”

That was essentially what she’d said and he’d obviously been listening. “I suppose.”

“Look, Tori. There has always been chemistry between us. I stayed away from you when you were seventeen and eighteen because you were too young to handle what I wanted. Now—”

“I’m old enough to handle anything,” she interrupted him with spirit.

“Yes, you are. But you’re also going to be a mother. Where can a man not interested in a permanent relationship fit into that mix?”

The question was almost a challenge, as if he was daring her to say she wanted a roll in the hay, a quickie in the afternoon at his apartment, a hot, short interlude while her baby slept in the room next door. Of course she couldn’t say any of those things. She thought more of herself than that. She thought more of the child she was going to adopt than that. She’d never had a hot affair, and she’d only ever had one relationship—her engagement and marriage to Dave.

Reminding herself that Dave had left, just as her father had left, she replied, “A man doesn’t fit into the equation at all.”

Then she flipped open the handle on the door and put one foot on the running board. “Thanks for coming along with me tonight, Jake. And for…clearing the air. I’m sure neither of us will feel any awkwardness now.”

As she climbed out, slammed the door and hurried up her front walk she heard Jake call, “Tori, wait.”

His command echoed in her ear. Still, she ignored it and practically ran inside.

She wasn’t about to lose her heart again to any man—not even to Jake Galeno!

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