Wylde (4 page)

Noah’s arm, as if needing that physical reassurance.
“It’s okay, Josh. I found out who was in the woods—a young
woman suffered some kind of accident, but I don’t believe she was
shot.” Noah put an arm around Josh, and his son allowed it. “She
was breathing, just unconscious. I’m hoping she’ll be fine.” Josh looked out the window at the forest. “I’m glad. Uh, you
weren’t in the kitchen before you came to talk to me, were you?” Noah blinked at the strange question. “No. Why do you ask?” “The pie and food we had waiting for supper… it’s gone, Dad.
Looks like someone walked in the kitchen and took it.”

A
DEPUTY
showed up at Noah’s front door first, Alec Danvers. He barely spoke to Noah before heading off into the woods at a run. Then, twenty minutes later, the ambulance arrived. The young woman turned out to be Jade Moreton, who had cleaned up the house for Noah and Josh. Noah had spoken to her several times on the phone and found her efficient and pleasant. She was carefully retrieved and put on a stretcher.

“K
ELL
,
Thomas left me a note on the fridge that he was going to

escort that girl Jade to your pool,” Marisa Anderson, Noah’s new neighbor, told the big lawman as soon as Noah let her into his great room. “I’ve called around and he’s not with any of his friends. I’m afraid he might still be up there, in the woods….” Her jaw tightened, but otherwise her face remained expressionless. “Perhaps he got lost, trying to find help for her.”

Kell nodded as he listened, looking grim. “It’s very easy to get turned around up there in the dark. I’ll call and see if I can get added back up from two more of the county deputies. We’ll search around the house.”

Marisa’s face thawed slightly as she gave a perfunctory nod.

N
OAH
played host to Marisa Anderson, who for some reason looked uncomfortable under his roof. Was it because this rundown old house was nothing like the showplace she’d renovated? Or was it because of what he’d caught one of the deputies whispering about her, that she’d had an affair with a man who used to live here? Whatever it was, it blurred by Noah since he was still adjusting to his first night here.

Kell caught his eye, and Noah followed him to the peeling French doors.

 

“I could really use another pair of eyes,” the Chief said. “Any warm body.”

“I might get as lost as that boy,” Noah admitted ruefully. “But I’ll go with you, of course.”
As he stepped out onto the patio, he glanced back toward his cozy kitchen, at Marisa Anderson sitting at his battered farmhouse table, hands clenched around the hot cup of coffee Josh had made her.

“T
HANKS
for coming along,” the Chief told Noah, adding, “Some

house you bought, a real fixer-upper.” They were combing the land above where Noah’s home was located. The ground was covered with snake-like roots, loose rock, and protruding shards of granite. Both men moved carefully in the darkness, though the Chief seemed to have a special grace, treading almost soundlessly.

Noah blinked at the other man, finding it surreal that on his first day in his new home, he was out in the woods, searching for a lost boy. “I thought country life might agree with my son. You know, peace and quiet, Chief?” His lips quirked grimly, and the other man gave him a steady glance, as if he were still weighing Noah.

“Yep, it’s usually like that. By the way, call me Kell,” the Chief suggested absently. He touched Noah’s lower back to guide him over some deadfall on the deer trail they were following before ranging ahead, listening, testing the ground for uneven footing. The forest crowded them on either side, but Noah didn’t experience the fear he’d felt earlier, and he knew it was because of this man. The lawman had a quiet air of capability.

“Were you in the army?” he asked on a hunch.

 

Kell gave him a surprised glance. “Yeah, Army Rangers. Guess it still shows some, huh?”

“Yes,” Noah said. “I hope it won’t make me seem unmacho, but I admit I wouldn’t want to walk these woods alone at night.”
Kell shook his head, grim. “Me neither.”

“Chief….” Noah flushed under the steady gaze. “Kell. Something odd happened, other than the strange sound that I hope very much was a firecracker.”

“Um?” Kell prodded, gaze on the trail.
“Someone, uh, stole our dinner.”
“Lot of that going around, on and off, over the years. Some

folks think it’s a ghost.”
“What do you think?”

Kell shook his head. “I have no idea, but I didn’t think ghosts ate food.”
“Y
OU
seem familiar with this path.”
“Walked it before when someone else was missing hereabouts.”

Wide-eyed, Noah asked, “Someone
else
went missing?” “Not anymore.” Kell huffed up a granite bluff and looked around with narrowed eyes. Noah followed and saw a perfect view of his house, lit like a beacon in the heart of the dark woods. “Found his remains last fall. Name of Ralph Hindle, a relative of the folks who lived in your house before they lit out. Kind of a hippy type from the university, studying wildlife out here.”
“He died in these woods?”
“Nope,” Kell said laconically, turning back to delve back onto the trail. “Over on Morley Orris’s property about a mile from here.”
“Is he the man that Marisa Anderson had an affair with?” Noah probed.
“Huh. Didn’t take long for you to pick up on that rumor. I have no idea. Her husband seems the possessive type so I might have looked at him, but Ralph seemed to have just gotten lost, hurt… and then died before we could find him.”
Noah swallowed dryly, abruptly sickened. “I… didn’t know anyone had died nearby.”
“Realtor didn’t tell you, huh? Well, he had a house to sell and yours has a bit of an unfortunate history, starting with old Mr.

Butler, the man who built it, dying of a heart attack. Folks didn’t find him for a while….”

“Well, maybe the Hindles didn’t want to stay after their relative died out here. And it is in questionable repair. I’m probably going to have to replace everything,” Noah said morosely.

“Uh huh.” The Chief was noncommittal.
“How did this man Hindle die?”
“Coroner said it was an animal attack, but there wasn’t enough

of him left to tell.”

 

Noah was suddenly angry. He snagged Kell’s arm. “Are you telling me this to frighten the city slicker, Chief?”

Kell shook his head, apparently unruffled at Noah’s show of spirit. He stared calmly at Noah’s fingers until Noah removed them. “You’ve got quite the temper, but I think I like that,” Kell said in a thoughtful voice. “As for why I told you about Hindle, I just think you should be careful. This isn’t exactly Walton’s Mountain.”

A
N HOUR
later, Kell addressed the exhausted searchers back on Noah’s property. “Dawn is two hours away so I want you all to go home, get some rest, feed up and then come back tomorrow. We’ll expand the perimeter then, have a better chance of finding Thomas in daylight.”

T
HE
young man watched the searchers leave from his hiding place under a dead tree. He didn’t know if they were looking for him, but he was scared, and his stomach was cramped from eating a whole pie, filched from the new people. He put his head on his knees, shivering, wishing that, like that boy in the nearby house, he had someone who cared about him.

But there was no one he could let near him. No one he could trust.

 

N
OAH
watched the Chief staring at the trees beyond his large bay living room windows. “Shouldn’t you sleep too?” he asked softly.

“Yeah. I have a blanket in the truck—”
“Absolutely not. I have a guest room, complete with razor. You’re welcome to stay.” Noah’s eyes dropped to the other man’s belt.

“Like something you see?” Kell’s drawl was rough and tired. “Excuse me?” Noah flushed.
“You keep staring at my crotch.”

“I do not! It’s your belt buckle; it’s very distinctive.” It was heavy silver, elaborately wrought, with undulating figures. It kept catching Noah’s gaze, making him puzzle at the pattern.

“Uh huh.” Kell scrubbed his eyes. “You gay?”
“I… I have a son,” Noah said faintly, crossing his arms.

“So?” Kell prodded as he followed Noah to the offered room. “That just means you have viable sperm, not where you like to spill it.”

“A
RE
you hitting on me, Chief?” Noah demanded, crossing his
arms.

“Surely men have hit on you before, you being from the big, bad city,” Kell noted tiredly, not denying it.
“I can’t believe how brash you are!” Noah told himself he was offended as the Chief looked at him with weary but appreciative eyes. But… hadn’t he come out here so he could eventually be the man he’d always wanted to be? Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean taking up with some macho local.

“You don’t waste time out here in the country. Only so many bodies to tangle with in front of a fire and, as for attractive gay men….” Kell shrugged. “Not many. Besides, I’m picky.”

“I have no idea why you’d think that I would be receptive to your advances,” Noah shot, unable to think of how to handle confident Kell. His words were like hands stroking over Noah’s skin. Noah told himself he was irritated, not…. He wasn’t ready after his mistake in Seattle.

“Bullshit, you don’t know!” Kell growled, leaning against the doorway of the borrowed room. “Listen, if I wasn’t sure you were ‘receptive’, I sure as hell wouldn’t tell you how I wish I could push you on your stomach on the guest bed and nail you while you scratch the sheets and beg for more
.”

Noah shook his head. “You’re either a lunatic or a complete barbarian!”

Kell chuckled as Noah’s gaze dropped to his crotch and then flew away when he realized he was doing it again. Despite how weary the Chief was, their disagreement had made him hard, pushing lustily against his zipper.

And that hardness kept attracting Noah’s eye.

K
ELL
knew he was way over the line of decent behavior, but something about Noah made him edgy, pissy, and horny as fuck. Normally he wasn’t into city guys. He just wanted to get down and sweaty. No pretence. Sometimes he liked to tie his date up with his belt, if the man agreed, bend him over a couch or his SUV, and help himself.

The thought of doing that to Noah almost made him groan. Shit! He’d just met him, but apparently the uptight man rang his bell.
Hard
. Just his luck, since despite the vibes, Noah seemed in hiding for some reason, unlike Kell, who had had a belly full of that and now just wanted to be himself.

“I better lock up.” Noah made to turn away, and Kell stopped him with a gentle hand cupping his elbow.

Noah caught his breath at the simple touch.
Oh, right, you’re not gay.
Kell wanted to roll his eyes. “Sorry if I came on too strong,” Kell surprised himself by saying. “I’m worried about that kid out there lost in the forest, but… I shouldn’t have said all that shit.”

Noah gave him a straight look under ash-blond brows. “But you meant it, didn’t you?”

 

“Yeah.”

“Then don’t be sorry,” Noah surprised the bigger man by saying.
Kell blinked, staring after Noah as he walked away. “Well… day-yam. Did he just
flirt
with me?” he muttered to himself.
A
S SOON
as he returned to his home office, a little shaken from his stirring encounter with the Chief—he was
not
going to dwell on it, but he’d liked that he’d managed to surprise the confident man— Noah noticed the French doors were still standing open, bringing in the night air like chilly incense. As he closed them, he thought about Josh’s story that their food had gone missing. Strange. Had the kid lost in the woods somehow gotten in and snagged it as another part of a prank?
Noah looked out at the dark, towering stands of trees that he’d thought so pristine before moving here. Now there seemed to be an air of waiting menace, as if something watched the house from the shadows.
He shook off the strange fancy, blaming his son for making him think that. All right, it had been a bad start, but somehow they’d take it day by day and make this their home. God knew the house itself had plenty of room for improvement.

T
HE
woods enveloped the young man like a familiar dark womb after he polished off the last of the stolen food, uncertain when he’d eat so well again. He’d been frightened when the gun had gone off—someone shooting at him? He didn’t know, but this was his place.

He decided to investigate.

K
ELL
checked his flashlight. He put a hand on Noah’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “Stay here. The Anderson boy may return and then you can call me on the radio I left you.”
“You’re sure you can’t sleep?” Noah asked. He must have

heard Kell prowling around, restless. Certainly he hadn’t been surprised Kell was making another attempt to find the missing boy; Noah would make a fine cop’s boyfriend.

Kell blinked at the strange thought, struggling with a bizarre and inappropriate desire to pull the slighter man into his arms.

“Can’t I come with you and help look for him again?” Noah asked calmly.
Kell shook his head reluctantly. “Hiking around your home is one thing, but this might take me into rough country so you’d only slow me down. But… thanks.”