Bed of Lies (33 page)

She couldn't help loving the man, but maybe she could keep herself from telling him so. But what if he figured out that what she really wanted was his love? What if he just offered that to her, without her ever having to ask, and he made her trust in that love and in the idea that it could last?

She'd be lost then.

Or maybe she'd be found.

Chapter 15

She was a weak woman where he was concerned, so she just let him take over and try to fix everything. She had the threatening bank papers in her car. He glanced at them and frowned, eventually deciding to take them with him to study more closely. Then they headed for the town's new jail.

Zach offered to come in with her, but she told him no. She didn't really want him to see or hear this. He knew enough of it from when they were younger.

All too soon, she was sitting—separated by heavy glass —in front of a woman who looked impossibly old. Julie thought at first they'd made a mistake, that this couldn't be her mother. It looked like she'd aged twenty years in the past eight.

Finally, Julie picked up the phone on her side of the glass, waited until her mother did the same, then looked away again. "Peter's with me," she said. "I have temporary custody, and I hope social services will let me keep him until... I don't even know when. We need to know what's going on with you. He needs to know. How long are you going to be here?"

"I don't know," her mother said. "Until the trial, I guess. The judge set bail high enough to cover the money that's missing."

"Do you still have it?" Julie asked. She'd thought of searching the house for it. Find it. Give it back. Be done with this thing.

Her mother said nothing.

"But you took it?" Julie asked. Still nothing. Julie took her silence as an admission of guilt. "Do you have an attorney?"

"The court appointed one. A kid who looks about your age, maybe younger."

"Zach McRae offered to help, as a favor to me and to Peter. But it has to be your decision, and you have to fire the other attorney first, for Zach to be able to step in. I left his business card with the guard for you. But whatever you do, I need to be able to tell Peter something. Social services needs to know. We can't all live in limbo like this."

"You're really going to stick around?" her mother asked.

"I don't know," she said. Anger poured in past the numbness that had gotten her through to this point. "Somebody has to take care of Peter. He was in a group home until I got here. That's what happens when your parents go to jail and there's no one left to take care of you."

Julie turned her head away as far as the phone cord would allow, shifting in her chair to turn her body away from her mother's, too. She really didn't want to be here, and she didn't want to talk about this.

"Also, the bank's foreclosing on the house, but I guess you already know that."

Her mother stared blankly at her.

"Right." At one time she would have sat there arguing until she figured out how to try to fix things, but she wasn't going to do that, not anymore. "You made this mess. You can get yourself out of it. I'll take care of Peter as best I can."

Julie got to her feet and knocked on the door. The guard came to let her out.

Oddly enough, it didn't feel like running this time. It felt like a choice she'd made. A smart one.
How about that? Julie makes a good decision.
She felt like shit, but she thought she was doing the right thing. It was more than she could say for most decisions in her life.

* * *

Julie still felt really lousy once she was done with her mother, and she had an idea that maybe if she looked really pitiful and asked nicely, Zach might change his mind and take her to bed. But he was one determined man, and he just wouldn't take her home for fix-everything-sex.

He offered her ice cream instead.

"What?"

"It worked when you were seven."

"I'm not seven anymore, Zach."

"Does that mean you don't want ice cream?"

"No, that is not what it means."

"Thought so." He laughed as he parked her car near the town square.

She hadn't wanted to drive when she'd come out of the jail. He'd taken the wheel, and at first he'd held her hand, and then as she'd gotten even more miserable, he'd tugged her across the console in the middle of the seats until her head was in his lap, her cheek against his right thigh, his hand toying with her hair.

So she had that and she'd have ice cream. It wasn't the kind of comfort she'd find in bed with him, but it wasn't bad.

He parked the car. She went to raise her head, but before she could get too far away, he drew her face to his and kissed her slowly, sweetly. She made a pitiful sound that might have been a whimper. She was a pathetic woman at the moment. He grinned and nuzzled his nose against hers and kissed her cheek.

"I'm telling you, my sympathy doesn't extend that far."

"Rat," she complained.

"You haven't tasted this ice cream."

He got out of the car and headed around to open the door for her, but she did it herself and was waiting for him when he got to her side of the car.

"You're telling me this ice cream is somehow comparable to a night in bed with you?"

Zach just grinned. It took her a minute to realize that he wasn't just grinning at her, but at someone behind her. Groaning, Julie turned around to find his sister Grace grinning like the devil herself.

"I don't know, Zach. I have trouble thinking you're
that
good," Grace said, then burst out laughing.

Julie thought she must have turned six different shades of red. Zach came closer, slipping his arm around her and not letting her move away from him.

"They all know, anyway," he said softly, his mouth close to her ear. "They know everything. Always. It's the most annoying thing."

Julie frowned at Grace, and the only thing she could think to say was, "He's not engaged anymore."

"I know," Grace said, proving Zach's theory.

Julie groaned once again, and Grace gave her a big hug, then pulled Zach into it, too. Zach kissed her and said, "I thought once we got you back from Paris, you'd stay a while."

"Me?" Grace frowned at him. "I'm not the one who's been gone for the better part of four months."

"I had some things to take care of," he said.

"Sure you did." She turned to Julie. "I can't believe you're back! I feel like it's been forever. And look at you. You look great. How are you?"

"I'm... handling things. Kind of," Julie said, then looked at Zach. "He's making me crazy."

"He's good at that."

"You look wonderful, too," Julie said. Grace had always been a beauty. A delicate, blonde angel. "Your mother said you were in Bloomington for a couple of days, visiting a friend you knew at art school in Paris?"

"Yes, but if I'd had any idea the two of you would show up, I would have been here." She glared at Zach. "You have to talk to me."

"I will. Promise."

"And you have to talk to me, too," she said, looking at Julie. "Are you two coming to Mom and Dad's tomorrow night?"

"Yes," Zach said.

"Good." She looked from one of them to the other, seeming thoroughly pleased with what she saw and what she'd heard. "I guess I'll see you there, then. I hate to rush off, but I have to take care of a couple of things and I wouldn't want to interrupt anything. Sounds like you have important things to settle about how good this ice cream is." She grinned, kissed her brother on the cheek, gave Julie a quick hug and ran off.

"She does look great," Julie said. "And happy."

"Grace is always happy," he said. "So... ice cream?"

Julie glared at him, embarrassed to the core. "Your whole family thinks we're sleeping together and that I broke up your engagement."

"No. They know the engagement's off, but I never told anybody it was because of you. It wasn't. I finally figured it out now because of you, but... You know what it was like."

Julie winced. "They must think I'm awful."

"No, they don't." He stood there holding her close, right in the middle of town on a sunny afternoon. "They think I'm a mess right now—that's what I told them—and they're glad you're here to help me through it."

"The sex cure?"

"No, Julie. It wasn't that. It was a lot more than that, and you know it."

She would have protested long and loud. But then he kissed her again. It wasn't such a terribly inappropriate kiss. It was sweet and soft and kind, and he held her lightly, his hands on the sides of her face. But she just melted and clung to him, until she made herself break the kiss and back away.

"What?" he asked, mild irritation coloring the word.

"I don't know," she said miserably. "Can I have my ice cream now?"

"Sure."

He put his arm around her and steered her down the block and into the store. It was brand-new, and it smelled heavenly inside. They saw a half-dozen people they knew while they waited their turn and another half-dozen on the way from the store to the town park across the street. Julie sat on top of a picnic table eating her ice cream, and Zach stood beside her, leaning against the tabletop, looking out over the river.

"Well?" he asked when she was done with her cup of chocolate swirl.

"Not bad," she said.

"Not bad?" He came to stand in front of her, easing her thighs apart and settling between them.

"Zach, there's no food in the world that's better than good sex."

"None?" he asked, leaning down and taking the merest taste of her lips.

"None. I feel sorry for women who think a food can come close. But this is really good. And it was sweet of you to take such good care of me this afternoon."

"I'm not feeling very sweet at the moment."

She took a handful of his shirt in each of her hands and tugged until he came closer, wondering if anyone ever had sex on these tables in the park when it was pitch-black out here. He wanted her. Right now. She couldn't mistake that when his hands slid down to her hips and pulled her against him.

"You're not making this easy for me," he complained.

"I don't plan to. What do I have to do exactly to get you back in bed with me?"

"I can't remember," he said, kissing her once more.

They might get arrested in the park, she thought. Somebody might have to pry her hands off him, hopefully before she ripped his clothes off. She was easing closer, her body opening up to his, her bottom leaning off the edge of the table and into that wonderful hardness of his.

"Want to have a picnic?" she asked.

He broke the kiss and stepped away, breathing hard and swearing. "You are a wicked woman."

"I know." She finally grinned. "I'll ask again. What exactly do I have to do to have you?"

He was standing about a foot away, straight and tall and looking like a man in the prime of his life, his body strong and lean, a determined look on his face. The wind was blowing through his hair, and he never took his eyes off her. She reached out and took one of his hands and tugged him back to her.

"What? Tell me. I'll do it."

"You have to let me love you," he said.

"Zach—" She couldn't believe he'd just thrown that out into the open that way. Didn't the man know anything about self-protection and evasion? She'd have to teach him. It was much easier than this.

"No trying to talk me out of it or to change my mind. No pushing me away or making excuses. You just have to let me, Julie. It's as easy as that."

She shook her head. "There's nothing easy about it."

"Let me in," he said. "Believe in me—"

"I do believe in you," she complained. "It's just—"

"Us, then. Believe in us. And find a way to believe in yourself. If you did, just a fraction as much as I believe in you—"

"You have always been such a fool that way," she insisted.

"No, I'm not. I'm the most reasonable man you know. Think about that."