Best-Kept Secrets. Dani Sinclair
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now there was a maturity that hadn’t been there before. Her hair was gloriously long. It was silky, and lighter in color than he remembered, but one thing hadn’t changed. Her mouth had always been made for kissing.
“Is anybody hurt?”
Jake tore his gaze from her face at the sound of the police chief’s question. Hepplewhite and Officer Garvey had apparently made it out of the pit before the truck had half filled it full of gravel.
“I’ll be damned. I think my leg’s broke,” Zeke announced, sounding stunned.
Jake turned back to Amy, assessing her for injuries. Other than smudges of dirt, she was fine. Amazingly, Zeke was the only one in the crowd who’d been struck by the truck. Several people had been hit by flying gravel, but no one was seriously hurt.
“What happened?” Hepplewhite demanded of the foreman.
“I don’t know. Look out!”
Near the edge of the pit, the ground gave way beneath the weight of the truck. More of the gravel spilled into the hole.
“Get everybody back! Lee, secure the scene until I can get Osher and Jackstone over here,” Hepplewhite ordered the other officer with him. “Now we’ve really got a mess.”
“Do you want help?” Jake offered.
The police chief sized him up. “See if you can get these people inside the restaurant and keep them there until I can ask a few questions.”
Jake nodded. He kept his gaze impersonal as he looked at the crowd, refusing to stare at the one person he wanted most to look at. “Everyone inside where it’s safe,” he said firmly in a tone that started people moving. “You and you—” he picked two of the construction workers “—carry Zeke inside and set him down in the bar until the ambulance arrives.”
Zeke managed a smile. “I could use a beer,” he announced. “For the pain.”
“We should go home. My mother isn’t well,” Amy protested.
“Grandma?”
Jake squatted beside the frail woman he recognized as the mailman’s wife. “Are you hurt?” he asked gently.
“It’s her heart,” Amy said quickly.
Jake glanced around and spotted one of his dishwashers lingering at the scene. “Billy, get inside and call for an ambulance.”
Instantly, Amy’s mother struggled to sit up. “I don’t need an ambulance! I’m fine. I’m not an invalid.”
“One of the workmen was injured,” Jake said reassuringly. “We’ll need the ambulance for him.”
“Oh. Oh, of course.”
Before she could protest, he lifted her into his arms and stood.
“I can walk.”
“Of course you can, but surely you won’t deprive me of a chance to carry such a beautiful woman to safety.”
“Oh.” She blushed a deep rosy pink. “I’d heard you were a charmer,” Susan Thomas said. “Isn’t he a charmer, Amy?”
Jake’s eyes locked with Amy’s. He saw a flash of remembered hurt before they turned to green chips of ice that sparkled like the crystals in her ears.
“Oh, yeah, he’s a real charmer, Mom. Come on, Kelsey.” She pulled her daughter tightly to her side and turned away without another word. Her skirt whirled almost defiantly about her shapely, graceful legs. The rush of remembered heat startled him. It had been years, but he could still feel those legs wrapped tightly around his body as they came together with incredible abandon.
“My daughter worries about me,” Mrs. Thomas was saying. “I was recently diagnosed with a heart condition and my family thinks they have to pamper me.”
Jake pulled his thoughts back to the here and now. “I don’t blame them one bit. Are you certain you’re all right?” She did appear pale, now that he really looked at her. Pale and badly frightened. Shadows of fear lurked in her eyes.
Well, who could blame her? She’d come for lunch, not to be flattened by a ten-ton truck.
Jake realized he’d gone soft. Before his last mission had gone sour and left him with injuries he was still trying to overcome, his reaction to what had just happened would have been quicker, more decisive. But those days were definitely gone, and if he didn’t set this woman down soon, the whole town would realize just how far gone he was. He could feel the pull of weakened muscles and restored skin across his back. The bullet wound and the shrapnel from the exploding boat had left permanent damage that no amount of operations would ever restore. His shoulder was growing white-hot with the pain of holding even this woman’s slight weight.
Ben Dwyer, his new bartender, met him at the restaurant door. Jake gave him a stern nod. “Get everyone back to work. Free drinks, but nothing alcoholic. Chief Hepplewhite wants us to keep everyone inside and able to answer questions.”
“You got it.”
Of necessity, Jake set Mrs. Thomas down at the table nearest the door. “I apologize for the excitement. I’ll be right back.” He didn’t look at Amy who was sputtering protests as he left, but he could feel her gaze bore a hole through his back as he strode toward the rear of the restaurant and the stairs leading up to his private quarters.
Lifting the woman had been an incredibly stupid thing to do. The pain spread. He grit his teeth, hating the necessity of taking pills, but he wouldn’t be able to function if he didn’t get the spasm to pass quickly.
He focused his thoughts on Amy to get them off the pain in his back. This was turning into one heck of a day. First the bodies, then the truck accident. Naturally, Amy would have to pick today to drop into his life again. She always did have exquisite timing.
He’d thought he was prepared to see her again after all these years, but he’d been sadly mistaken. He’d known this day would eventually come when he’d made the decision to move to Fools Point, the town where she’d grown up. Deep in his heart, he’d hoped for the chance to see her again. But his secret fantasies hadn’t prepared him for reality. Amy still had the power to touch something elemental inside him—something that only responded to her. What surprised him was that Amy was still upset after all these years.
Jake sighed. He’d never known Amy to hold a grudge, yet anger had radiated from every stiff line of her carriage as she’d walked ahead of him into the restaurant. He deserved that and more. He’d walked out on her and what they’d had because of his own insecurities. He’d been able to face death without flinching, yet he hadn’t been able to face what she’d made him feel. Instead, he’d told himself he couldn’t offer her the sort of life she ought to have and he’d left like a coward. Loving Amy had made him vulnerable, and a big, tough navy SEAL couldn’t afford to be vulnerable that way.
What a self-centered jerk he’d been.
Over the years he’d wondered about Amy, if she was happy and well, if she’d found someone special to fill her life. He’d known she probably had, but for some dumb reason, he hadn’t pictured her married with kids. Maybe part of him hadn’t wanted to take the image that far.
Yet Amy had a daughter.
The knowledge ate at him. He hadn’t really believed she’d been waiting for him all these years. Not after the way he’d left her.
Jake sighed. He took two pills, chased them down with a glass of water, and told himself to stop thinking about the pain. He was alive. Three of his men weren’t.
He turned his thoughts away from the memory of a mission gone bad and tried to focus on the bodies under his parking lot. Who had put them there and why? He walked back downstairs slowly, knowing it was going to be a very long afternoon.
His guess proved correct. Jake was left with little time to think about Amy or anything else once the police descended