Part 26 (1/2)
”Now, don't go getting your panties in a wad, lover.” Jamie tried to wrap his arm around her, but she outmaneuvered him so that he grasped thin air.
”Are you seeing other women?” Laura demanded. ”Is that where you're going tonight, to see someone else?”
”Now, why would I be seeing other women when I have you?” Jamie grinned sheepishly at her. ”Baby doll, you're more than enough woman for me.”
”You're lying! I may not be all that experienced, but I know when a man finds me boring.”
Jamie lunged toward her and this time was able to catch her before she sidestepped him. When he pulled her into his arms, she struggled to free herself.
”Calm down and let me show you how easily you can satisfy me.” He tried to kiss her, but she turned her head.
He bit her earlobe. She yelped in pain.
He licked her ear, then whispered, ”I don't find a.s.s-f.u.c.king boring.” He rubbed his hand over her b.u.t.tocks. ”Take your panties off and bend over and I promise I won't be going anywhere else tonight.”
Laura's eyes widened in shock. ”Are you seriously asking me to partic.i.p.ate in such a depraved act?”
”I could force you,” he told her. ”Would you like it better that way? You could cry and whimper and beg me to stop and act as if you didn't like it.”
”No, Jamie. I don't want to-”
He silenced her with a kiss. A tongue-down-her-throat kiss. Laura was a good-looking girl. Not really pretty, but cute. And she had perky t.i.ts and a first-cla.s.s a.s.s. Unfortunately, she wasn't very adventurous in the bedroom. He'd figured out after the first time he'd screwed her that she didn't know much about s.e.x. Later, she'd admitted that he was only her third lover. h.e.l.l, he couldn't even remember who his third lover had been...or his thirtieth. His first had been one of the maids who had worked for his grandmother. He'd been fourteen and enjoyed the twenty-five-year-old's body for quite some time. Until she'd up and quit. The next memorable partner had been Jazzy Talbot. Now there was one hot piece of a.s.s. But for the life of him he didn't recall if she was lover number five, six, or seven. Certainly not number three.
The kiss quieted Laura momentarily, but the minute he released her mouth, she groaned. ”I love you, Jamie, but I won't put up with your having other women after we're married.” She stuck out her lower lip in an adorable pout.
He grinned, then planted a quick kiss on her pouting mouth. ”I promise that once we're married, I'll be as faithful as an old dog.” He wasn't lying to her. Not really. What she didn't know was that he had no intention of ever marrying her.
”I wish I could believe you.”
When she relaxed in his arms, he knew he had her. She was succ.u.mbing to her love for him. He preferred it when a woman loved him. Women in love were always easier to handle.
”I love you, Laura. You know that. I've never loved another woman the way I love you.”
G.o.d, how gullible women were. They fell for that old line every time. He'd lost track of how many times he'd used those exact words. h.e.l.l, all he did was tell Laura what she wanted to hear, what every woman wanted to believe.
Putty in his hands, she melted into him. ”Will it hurt?” she asked.
”Will what hurt?”
”You know.” She grasped his hands and dragged them down from her waist to cup her b.u.t.tocks.
Jamie laughed. ”Oh, that. Lover, it won't hurt me a bit, but...it could be a little uncomfortable for you.”
”How uncomfortable?” She looked directly into his eyes, her gaze filled with antic.i.p.ation.
”You're dying to find out, aren't you?” He grabbed her hand and dragged her across the room toward the bed. ”Just take off your robe and remove your panties and I'll satisfy your curiosity.”
He released his hold on her. She hesitated for a second, then eased her robe from her shoulders and let it pool at her feet. Beneath the robe she was naked. He sucked in his breath. Just looking at her gave him a hard-on.
”I love you, Jamie.” She turned her back to him and bent over, bracing herself with her open palms flattened on the foot of the bed. ”I wouldn't let you do this if I didn't love you so much.”
Jamie ran his hand over her smooth, firm b.u.t.t, then unzipped his pants and freed his s.e.x.
Jacob spent the night in his office. Again. Since Susie Richards's murder, he'd spent as many nights at the Sheriff's Department as he had his own apartment. With each pa.s.sing day, he came to regret having run for sheriff more and more. Logically he knew the only way to become a top-notch lawman was with experience, but right now he sure as h.e.l.l would like to find a quick way to bypa.s.s those years of on-the-job-training and move right on up to seasoned sheriff.
h.e.l.l, man, what more could you do than you've already done? he asked himself as he looked through the stack of crime-scene photos for what seemed like the millionth time. Was there something he was missing? Was Dallas's personal experience clouding his expert vision? Why hadn't the task force helped them solve these crimes?
With frustration and lack of sleep added to his normal quick temper, Jacob swept his hand across the top of his desk, a motion that sent the photos flying into the air and then dropping haphazardly onto the floor. He shot up so quickly that he accidentally flipped his swivel chair onto its side. He kicked the back of the overturned chair and cursed a blue streak.
The killer wanted Genny. He had chosen her as his fifth victim because she had psychic abilities, because she had inherited the sight from Granny.
He had to protect Genny at all costs. She was the dearest person on earth to him. He loved her like a sister.
And Dallas Sloan loved her, too. Instinct alone told Jacob that Dallas would lay down his life for Genny.
Tewanda Hardy called out through the closed office door. ”Sheriff Butler, Dr. MacNair is here to see you.”
Jacob checked his watch. Ten-fifteen. ”Yeah, Tewanda, tell him to come on in.” Jacob righted his chair and bent to hurriedly pick up the scattered photos.
The door opened and the town's newest doctor crept in. Crept was the only way Jacob knew how to describe the man's demeanor. Head bowed. Eyes downcast. Acting like a whipped dog. MacNair was one of those soft-looking men, stocky in build but not muscular, with a ruddy face, washed-out blue eyes, and small, almost feminine features.
”I've made a terrible mistake,” MacNair said.
”How's that?” Jacob had a feeling he already knew what the doctor was going to say. Genny had probably guessed right-Nina MacNair had run off with another man.
”My wife isn't missing.”
”Have you heard from her?”
He shook his head. ”Not directly. But her mother called me about thirty minutes ago. It seems Nina contacted her because she didn't want her mother to worry about her. Nina knew I'd call Mrs. Grant.”
”And your mother-in-law told you that your wife is all right?”
”Nina has left me. Mrs. Grant told me that Nina had her old boyfriend come to Cherokee Pointe and pick her up early this morning. She walked from our house into town. She's going to move in with her mother until after we get a divorce, then she's going to marry.... She didn't take anything with her this morning. She didn't want to risk getting caught. She was afraid I'd beg her to stay.”
Jacob didn't need to hear this, didn't want to hear it. He hated seeing a man humbled and humiliated by a woman he loved.
Jacob crossed the room, planted his hand on the doctor's shoulder, and said, ”I'll take care of the missing person's report. I can explain that Mrs. MacNair's gone home to visit her mother.”
”I'm sorry about all this. I honestly thought...” MacNair gulped down a sob. ”Thank G.o.d I was wrong about the killer having her.”
Jacob walked the doctor outside to his car, all the while very grateful that he'd never allowed any woman to emotionally castrate him.
Genny lifted a quilt down from a high shelf in the hall closet and carried it into Dallas's bedroom. She'd given him Jacob's old room, which was directly across the hall from hers. When Dallas heard her approaching, he turned to face her.
”Here's an extra quilt.” She held out the last patchwork creation Granny had put together before her death. ”Is there anything else you need?”