Part 6 (1/2)
”Why don't you sleep in today?” he suggested casually.
Teddy eyed him with loving understanding, her gamlne's smile quirking her lips. ”I'm fine, Zach.” She reached up a hand to his lean cheek, stroking gently. ”I'm not going to lose this one.”
Zach had a great deal of faith in his vivacious wife's peculiar psychic certainties, but he had too much experience with the vagaries of fate to share her confidence. He also remembered far too vividly Teddy's miscarriage months before, and the terror he'd gone through at almost losing her. Not all her a.s.surances-or those of the doctor who was still astonished by this second conception-could allay his fears. He caught her hand and held it firmly to his face, his free hand moving to push the sheet aside and cover her very slightly rounded belly. ”You should have stayed in New York,” he said a bit harshly.
”What, and miss our final hurrah?” she said, deliberately light. ”It isn't a jungle this time, remember? There's no danger at all, Zach.”
He shook his head slightly. ”Honey, there's always danger in a scheme like ours. We've covered all the bases, sure, but it's impossible to plan for the unexpected element. And Hagen's such a wild card. G.o.d only knows what could happen.”
”Well, you're with me,” she said serenely, her faith in her big warrior absolute.
His lips twisted, but his gray eyes gleamed with sudden wry humor, and she grinned at him. Zach bent his head to kiss her, his hand still moving gently over her stomach. After a few moments he muttered huskily, ”We should have waited, given you more time to recover.”
Teddy, perfectly aware that his mind was never long distracted from her unexpected pregnancy, slid her arms around his neck and laughed softly. ”After you and the other guys came back into the country on that flying visit, I was so happy to see you that birth control never crossed my mind. Or yours, for that matter.”
Remembering the very pa.s.sionate reunion with his wife, Zach silently admitted that his lifelong control had never stood against Teddy. Thank heaven. Aloud, he said, ”Are we going to tell her she was conceived in a Jeep?”
Solemnly Teddy said, ”Well, if I'd known neither of us could wait until we got home, I would have borrowed the limo to pick you up at the airport. Then she could have been conceived in style.”
He chuckled softly. ”And I probably wouldn't have given a d.a.m.n about the driver either.” He caught his breath suddenly as her hand wandered, and added somewhat thickly, ”Didn't the doctor say we should be careful?”
”I plan to be extremely careful,” Teddy said. ”We have a couple of hours before we meet the others in Josh and Raven's suite for breakfast. That's long enough to be careful, don't you think?”
Zach, no longer unnerved by his inability to think at all where his wife was concerned, growled and pulled her pet.i.te body into his arms.
Skye walked briskly along the paved pathway leading to the Old West section of the park. The gates hadn't opened for the day, but he could hear the usual morning noises, and employees in costumes wandered about talking and laughing. From the section Skye was nearing came occasional gunfire as various characters practiced the tricks they'd be called upon to perform later.
Stopping to watch two costumed characters perfecting their sharpshooting, Skye waited for a pause in the gunfire and then said dryly, ”Funny how many of you have managed to act out your own personal fantasies.”
Lucas Kendrick, in the guise of Wild Bill Hickok, chuckled as he reloaded his rifle. ”My ego's suffering,” he told the other man, and nodded at the slim brunette at his side who wore the costume of Annie Oakley. ”She's so much better than I am.”
Kyle's turquoise eyes gleamed briefly at her husband, and then she looked at Skye. ”Something up?”
He shook his head. ”Not really. But I've settled on the Ferris wheel as the most likely spot.”
Lucas turned to look in the direction of the Ferris wheel, his sharp blue eyes narrowing as he picked out the tall structure in the distance. ”Good,” he murmured thoughtfully. ”It's fairly central, so we can all get there quickly.”
”Will you tell the others?” Kyle asked Skye.
”Yeah.” Skye listened intently as the sounds of gunfire echoed, and added, ”If you two see Raven and Josh, tell them, will you? They're the only ones who wander all over the park, and I may not see them anytime soon.”
”Sure.” Lucas gazed at him steadily. ”You sound a bit jumpy.”
Skye managed a shrug. ”Must be the gunfire. See you later.” He strode off.
Lucas looked at his wife with a lifted brow, and she said, ”I caught it too. He's definitely on edge.”
Grimacing slightly, Lucas said, ”I've noticed Dane's keeping a pretty close eye on him, and he wouldn't if he weren't worried about his brother. If Hagen sees those two together, he's going to start to smell a rat.”
”They're both pros,” she observed.
He nodded, but said, ”Still, one thread too tight and this whole thing's going to unravel. Maybe we'd better talk to the others tonight.”
Kyle nodded agreeably, then took aim with her rifle and put yet another neat hole through the target some yards away. Lucas gave her a pained look, but laughed warmly.
Meanwhile, Skye found the others he sought gathered around the sheriffs office in the dusty main street of the Old West town. The sheriff, a tall, lean man with copper hair and tawny eyes and a lazy air that was somewhat deceptive, straightened from his lounging pose to offer Skye a cheerful h.e.l.lo.
Skye returned the greeting as he looked at him, then eyed the other three people. Both the ladles were tiny, and both were redheads, but the sheriffs lady had an expression of serenity in her sea-green eyes that perfectly matched both her husband's lazy calm and her own dignified costume of schoolteacher. The other redheaded lady, leaning back against the gunslinger who had both arms around her, had big, waiflike brown eyes that were bright with interest and a vivid face that made her as eye-catching as the scanty saloon girl costume she wore.
Looking finally at the powerful dark man who was playing the role of gunslinger, a menacing figure due to his size, the faint scar on his lean cheek, and the all-black costume, Skye shook his head ruefully. ”You people didn't choose this park just because of Adrian's threat,” he said definitely. ”You wanted the chance to play dress-up.”
Teddy Steele giggled engagingly. ”No, because the guys would have worn commando outfits. It took me all of an hour to talk Zach into being the villain.”
A deep chuckle rumbled from the gunslinger, and his powerful arms tightened gently around his wife. ”This isn't so bad,” he commented to Skye in an unexpectedly soft voice. ”But I feel for Josh.”
Rafferty Lewis laughed as well, pus.h.i.+ng his white hat to the back of his head. ”Face it, we're all having fun with this. Even Josh. Better than a vacation. What's up, Skye?”
Skye repeated his decision to settle on the Fen-is wheel as the site of the governor's attempted a.s.sa.s.sination, leaning back against a hitching post as he spoke to them. Their reaction was much the same as Lucas's and Kyle's.
”When does the balloon go up?” Teddy asked.
”A week from Sat.u.r.day, if all goes well,” Skye answered. ”Right on schedule.” He felt an unusually steady gaze on him, and looked at the schoolteacher, whose eyes were gentle.
”Are you all right?” she asked.
He managed a smile. ”Fine, Sarah.” He knew his control was strained to the breaking point, but until he had talked to Lucas and Kyle he'd believed he was hiding it well. Obviously not. Before anybody else could mention it, he said, ”I'll try to touch base with the others sometime today. Hagen said something about seeing the Wild West show, but I'll try to keep him busy. Better stay alert, though.”
”Thanks for the warning,” Zach said.
Skye saluted them casually and left.
There was a moment of silence after he'd gone, and then Teddy said reflectively, ”Does anybody know if we're unintentionally matchmaking?”
Sarah looked at her. ”It was that kind of tension, wasn't it?”
”I'd say so. And, according to Raven, Skye isn't the type to get nervous professionally. This operation has to be a piece of cake to him. So what other reason could there be?”
Rafferty sighed. ”If we've learned anything by now, it has to be that where Hagen is, romance is. Against all odds. It isn't really any of our business, though,” he added carefully.
”No.” Zach's deep voice was slow and thoughtful. ”But if that's the cause of Skye's tension, he isn't handling It well. And he's the linchpin of the entire plan. Dane could step in, I suppose, if it comes to that. Maybe we'd better find out what's going on.”
Rafferty eyed his large friend. ”Well, you ask Skye, then. You're about the only one of us big enough to take him on if he doesn't like the question.”
”Raven,” Sarah said in her soft, serene voice. ”She knows him better than we do. Leave it to her.”
Teddy nodded quick agreement. ”We can talk to her about it tonight.”