Luke muttered a profanity, then shot an apologetic look at Stevie. How does Matt figure in? he asked, though he didnt sound that surprised by what she was saying.
I was hoping youd know, she said. You know he didnt tell me anything about his work.
This wasnt work, Luke said quietly.
Her heart sank. She pressed her face against Stevies soft cheek. Then what?
The timing is interesting, Luke added thoughtfully.
Did Luke know what Matt had hidden or where to find it? You know something.
I dont know anything.
But you have suspicions?
Luke didnt meet her eyes when he answered. He was spending time with people I didnt trust. People we came in contact with in the field.
Abby realized what he meant. A woman.
Luke looked up sharply.
She smiled without humor. I know he cheated on me. If thats what youre trying to hide
Her name is Janis Meeks. Ran field ops for an organization called Voices for Villages.
They fund and supply infrastructure construction in Sanselmos poverty-stricken areas, right?
She and Matt Luke rubbed the back of his neck. We suspected she was involved in something very bad, so I asked Matt to stay away from her. I guess he didnt.
By now, Abby realized, she shouldnt be surprised at discovering another one of her late-husbands infidelities. Matt had spent a year in the South American country, his intel unit attached to a peacekeeping unit assigned to the struggling democracy after a coup attempt. Matt hadnt been the type of man to go a year without sex. In fact, danger would have been an aphrodisiac.
After Sanselmo, hed begun keeping secrets at every level of their relationship. The beginning of the end.
Sanselmo was hell, Luke said bluntly. Lots of bad things went down after the attempted coup. Marines died.
I know, Abby murmured, distracted by Stevie wriggling in her grasp. She turned him in her lap to face Luke.
Luke smiled at Stevie. Hi, big guy. My name is Luke. I knew your daddy.
Abby tried not to flinch. I havent told him much about Matt. Hes not old enough to realize somethings missing.
Stevie touched a small gold pendant in the shape of a hawk that hung from Lukes neck. Bird.
Luke looked down at the sticky fingers tugging his necklace. Thats right, its a big bird.
Abby smiled. Shed given the pendant to Luke for his birthday almost six years ago. Hawk was Lukes unit nickname. It had fitstrong, smart and always watching out for the people he cared for.
I have to have some clue what he was into, Luke. She stroked Stevies hair, shuddering at the memory of the masked mans threat. They told me if I go to the cops, Stevie will suffer. I cant risk it.
Sons of bitches. Lukes lips thinned to an angry line. I think I know who they are, Abswho they work for. But I swear, I dont know what they want you to find. If I knew, Id give it to you.
Tell me what you do know, then. She laid her hand on his arm. This is what youd call a need-to-know situation.
He sighed. In Sanselmo, we were looking into American involvement in a drugs-for-arms black market. Some Sanselmano national guardsmen were trading government-issue arms and ordnance to El Cambio rebels in exchange for cocaine.
Is that how they got so close to pulling off the coup?
Luke nodded. El Cambio has controlled the coca production in Sanselmo for decadesonly game in town. A lot of money up for grabs. Worse, there were American arms found during raids.
No way Matt was involved with trading arms for drugs, Abby said bluntly.
Maybe not. But his connection to Janis Meeks
Abby winced at the mention of the womans name. Shed taken a few body blows over the months after Matts death, as one story after another came to light.
Other Marine wives had warned her infidelity was commonpart of the fog of warand assured her that what happened overseas during a long tour of duty didnt have anything to do with Abby or with Matts love for her. But she knew better.
Besides, since Sanselmo, she was pretty sure Matt had been cheating on her stateside, too.
Matt might not have realized what he was facilitating, Luke continued. The timing is interesting because the Feds are on the verge of indictments against Voices for Villages. Maybe Matt had something incriminating on Meeks or her organization thats coming to light now because of the impending charges.
Like what?
Thats the question. His gaze on Stevies fingers fumbling with his pendant, Luke changed topics. Why didnt you tell me you were pregnant that night after the funeral?
Would it have made a difference?
His expression reflected guilt and regret. I guess not.
She looked away, the memory of that night as vivid in her mind now as it had been the very next morning, when shed awakened to find Luke had gone, leaving her with nothing but a note on the pillow and a little life growing inside her.
What if shed put a call in to his unit overseas when shed gotten the results of the pregnancy test? He couldnt have left Kaziristan to race to her side and play daddy to a baby he never intended to make. And shed have never wanted him to feel obligated to be with her just because they made a baby together.
But what about now? Didnt Luke deserve to know that the little boy she was trying so desperately to protect from her husbands past was his own flesh and blood?
I dont know what to do, she said aloud.
Where is your car parked? Luke asked, the question catching her off balance.
About a block down the street. We walked from there.
He frowned. You dont drive a dark blue Pontiac G-3?
She shook her head. Silver Honda Prelude.
Luke crossed to the front window. Parting the curtains about an inch, he peered outside, where the sun was making a last dying stand against twilight.
Is someone out there? Abby asked.
Not anymore, he answered tersely. But we have to assume theyre around here somewhere, just to be safe.
The urge to cry returned, but she fended it off. She didnt have time for tears. What should I do, Luke?
Right now, we dont have a clue what Matt might have taken, or where hed have hidden it. If he took anything at all. He let the curtain drop and turned to her. Right?
She nodded. Im sure he had a dozen places he could stash something he wanted to hide, but he never shared that kind of information with me.
He came to stand in front of her, capturing her chin with his fingers and giving a little tug to make her look up at him. I have some thoughts on that, but right now, lets get you and Little Bit home safely. You two can get a good nights sleep while I look into some hiding places Matt might have used.
The thought of returning to her mess of an apartment was almost more than she could bear, but she hid her despair from Luke. She wasnt about to start leaning on anyone again, no matter how broad and tempting the shoulders.
I need your address. Youre not staying at your apartment alone tonight, Luke said.
Wait Panic rose in her gut in greasy waves. No way was she sharing her tiny apartment with Luke Cooper while he played knight in shining armor. I dont need a babysitter.
I need your address. Youre not staying at your apartment alone tonight, Luke said.
Wait Panic rose in her gut in greasy waves. No way was she sharing her tiny apartment with Luke Cooper while he played knight in shining armor. I dont need a babysitter.
You need a bodyguard. His tone was so reasonable she wanted to punch him. If not for you, then for Stevie.
I can protect him myself. God, she sounded foolish. Sure, she knew how to use a gun, but she didnt have one in the house because of Stevie. And while she was physically fit and knew a few self-defense moves that might get her out of trouble if some jerk tried to mug her on the street, she couldnt outfight two military-trained enforcers armed with Colt .45s.
It wont hurt to have backup, right? Luke crossed to a desk near the entryway and pulled a pen and notepad from one of the drawers. He wrote something, tore out the page and handed it to her. My cell-phone number. Ill be a couple of minutes behind you, but call if you need anything.
I will. She gave him her address as she rose, shifting Stevie to her hip. Luke jotted it down on another piece of paper.
Drive by here on your way out and Ill see if I can spot anybody tailing you, Luke suggested as he walked her to the door. Ill be right behind you, I promise.
She slanted a look at him, wondering if he realized just how hollow his promises sounded after what happened between them three years ago. Although he hadnt really made her any promises that night, had he? There hadnt been many words at all, just kisses and touches and a raging fire shed thrown herself into without a second thought.
For him, it might have been nothing more than a few hours of shared grief and release.
But that night with Luke Cooper had changed her world.
NOTHING UNDER THE NAME Matt Randall, either? Luke asked the bus-station attendant on the phone, using one of the aliases Matt had used undercover with Marine Corps Intelligence.
No, sir.
Thanks anyway. Luke rang off and scanned the traffic around him, looking for any sign of a tail. Hed seen no one tailing Abby, but that didnt mean someone wasnt watching.
He spotted Abbys silver Honda a few car lengths ahead and his stomach turned a flip. Even tired, scared and frustrated, Abby Chandler was as beautiful as hed remembered.
And even more off-limits now than when he first realized he was in love with Matt Chandlers wife.
Evening traffic was busy. Though hed called San Diego home for the past seven years, hed spent much of that time overseas and on assignments out of town. Only life as a civilian had allowed him to really get to know the place. It wasnt a bad place to live. The zoo was world-famous, Sea World a fun way to spend a lazy Saturday and the place was crawling with military personnel. But now that he was out of the Corps, he found himself thinking of his real home more and more.
He missed the green mountains of Chickasaw County, Alabama, the sparkling waters of Gossamer Lake and his mothers cooking. Now that his brother Sam was back in Alabama after years away, Luke was the last Cooper in exile.
Even with Eladio Corderos threats hanging over him, the call of home was strong these days.
He wondered what Abby would think of Gossamer Ridge, Alabama, with its ten stoplights and one decent grocery store. He squelched that thought ruthlessly, aware how dangerous it was to think of Abby as anything but his old friends widow.
Hed made a mistake three years ago, taking advantage of her grief and vulnerability to assuage his own. It didnt matter that he loved her; Abby had been Matts wife. And now, the mother of the only child Matt Chandler would ever have.
And it just might be Lukes fault that Matt wasnt there to see his son grow up.
Stevie looked like Abby, from his freckles to his wide, expressive mouth. Not a hint of Matts laughing brown eyes or olive complexion. Was it easier for Abby that way, not to have to see Matt in Stevies eyes every time she looked at him?
How old was the kid nowtwo? Two and a half? No more than that; if Abby had been more than three or four months pregnant the night they spent together, hed have noticed.
His smile faded suddenly.
What if she hadnt been pregnant that night? He tried to remember how shed answered his questions about Stevie. Had she ever said, outright, that Matt was Stevies father?
A chill washed over him. They hadnt used protection that night; they were too far gone to think about stopping for something like that. Neither of them had been thinking about pregnancy.
But shed have told him. Abby wasnt a secret-keeper like he and Matt had been. Shed been open, sharing her thoughts and feelings with abandon. It had been one of the things about her that had drawn him, that candor.
If their night of comfort sex had left her pregnant, shed have told him.
When would she have had the chance?
Hed left her still asleep, a hastily jotted note of explanation tucked under her pillow. Sleeping with herhell, just being around herhad been dangerous. Matts sudden death had come too closely on the heels of Corderos vow of vengeance. Had Cordero had him killed as part of his vendetta against Luke?
It hadnt been out of the question. People he cared about automatically became targets.
Hed shipped out that morning for two years in Kaziristan, knowing shed be hurt by his abandonment, hating every part of what hed done. But it hadnt changed his determination to cut himself off from her and everyone he loved.
Hed meant his note to be a cold brush-off. He hadnt wanted her to try to contact him. If shed found herself pregnant a few weeks later, he couldnt blame her for keeping that information to herself.
He almost missed the turn onto Abbys street. He slowed, made a quick right and reacquired Abbys silver Honda ahead. She pulled into a parking space in front of the building.
He took an empty spot nearby, hoping the building super wouldnt have the Mustang towed, and caught up with Abby on the sidewalk in front of the first apartment.
She jumped when he touched her arm. Sorry, he said, wondering if he should just go ahead and ask her about Stevies paternity. Would she tell him the truth?
Probably not, he realized. If shed kept it a secret for three years, she wouldnt spill the beans just because a couple of gunmen had thrown her into Lukes life again.
He wouldnt push for now. It was the least he owed her.
Its a mess, she warned him as she set Stevie down on the ground and unlocked the front door of her first-floor apartment.
She wasnt lying, he realized with dismay a few seconds later, taking in the torn sofa cushions, the books in scattered heaps where the searchers had pulled them from the bookshelf against the wall, the overturned coffee table with the shattered crystal box in shards on the hardwood floor.
I didnt stop to clean up, she explained. I needed to know if you knew what Matt might be hiding, so I just grabbed Stevie and headed out.
He picked up a couple of the books and put them back on the shelf. Is the bedroom as bad?
The mattress is ripped open, but I can probably stuff most of the filling back inside and cover it with a sheet
You cant stay here tonight, Abby. This is unlivable.
She squared her jaw. Ill make it work.