Born Innocent (15 page)

Lolly said, “Don’t you worry. Things’ll work out.”

Even Mandy, who usually tossed the plates of food down and turned away almost before they hit the table, paused to give Claire a pat on the hand when she delivered the food. All the time Joe and Claire ate, people dropped by the booth and said quiet, kindly words.

Claire’s predicament was never referred to directly; under such public circumstances that would have been presumptuous. But the people of her town wanted her to know that they were thinking of her. And if she needed them, they were there.

When Joe and Claire got up to leave, Mandy said the check had already been paid.

Since they’d eaten, they decided to drive on to Grass Valley and buy groceries right away. That whole process took a few hours, so they didn’t arrive at the ranch until early afternoon.

The dogs came bounding down out of the shadows of the porch to greet them when they pulled into the yard.

“
Gonzo! Relay!” Joe commanded. “Sit!” The dogs whined but did as their master bid.

Claire got down and gave them the pats and kind words they’d been seeking. Then she stood for a moment in the bright sun to note that Joe had laid gravel in the driveway and chopped down the weeds since her last midnight visit. Also, the derelict tractor had been moved, probably to the barn in the pasture behind the house. One of the two beat-up trucks was gone; the other, of course, had been their transportation out here.

In the shadow of the barn, she could see the swaybacked horse.

Beside her, Joe chuckled as he noticed the direction of her gaze. “That’s Demon. A has-been if there ever was one. My old man loved that damn horse. So I’ve never had the nerve to ship him off to the glue factory where there is no doubt he belongs.”

Claire shaded her eyes so she could look at Joe, because the harsh sun was a burning ball just above his head. She was thinking about his father, a recluse, whom no one in Pine Bluff had ever really known, and she was touched that Joe would keep his father’s aging horse. She gently teased, “Aw, come on. You’re just a softy, admit it.”

“
I don’t admit a damn thing—except it’s good to see you smiling again.” The hot breeze blew a loose strand of hair across her mouth. He brushed it away, guiding it back behind an ear.

She caught his hand, and she turned it over and then laid his open palm against her cheek. “Thanks, Joe. I think this little ‘vacation’ you’ve arranged is going to turn out to be exactly what I need.”

“
Good.” His thumb caressed her, gently rubbing at the side of her mouth. She sighed a little, enjoying the way, down inside her, desire was stirring and wakening....

Then one of the dogs whined.

Joe’s hand dropped away.

Claire forced herself to think practical thoughts. “Guess what? We’ve got a truck bed full of groceries, and it’s ninety degrees out here.”

“
You said it, I didn’t.”

“
So let’s get to it.”

She turned and marched to the back of the pickup. After a moment, he joined her there. Together they unloaded the groceries and her suitcase and took them inside.

Claire was more than a little surprised when she stepped beyond the threshold into the cool interior of the old house. Outside, he hadn’t done much but lay the gravel drive, cut the weeds, repair the window she’d broken—and add a wooden glider on the porch, something she’d complimented when they passed it on the way in.

But inside, he had painted and bought new furniture, so that it seemed as if she was in a different house than the dreary one she’d broken into weeks before. In a side window, a new air conditioner hummed.

Joe explained, “I left it on yesterday. So it would be comfortable in here, just in case you came
.”
His voice was hesitant, almost shy.

“
I see.” She felt shy herself, suddenly. She looked up, remembering the watermark that had been on the ceiling. Now there was no sign of it beneath a fresh coat of paint.

He seemed to read her question in the direction of her gaze. “I patched the roof, so it should be okay. If not—” he shrugged “—I’ll find out I’ve got problems when we get the

next good rain....Now, come on. Let’s get these groceries to the kitchen.” He led the way through the hall, and then together they set about putting the food away.

When they were done, she turned to him. “Joe, I really am impressed,” she said of the changes in the house. “You must have been working at this pretty steadily since...”

He gently finished for her. “The last time you were here?”

She swallowed. “Yes.”

“
I guess I have, now that you mention it.”

“
All this—” she made a gesture that encompassed the whole house and the weedless yard “—couldn’t have left you much time for chasing bad guys.”

“
It hasn’t.”

“
You’ve been taking some time off?”

“
Yeah, I guess so.” He leaned back against the counter and folded his arms. “Truth is, I’m considering a career change. Hunting down bail jumpers isn’t doing it for me anymore.” His voice was as casual as the way he leaned against the counter, but Claire sensed this subject troubled him more than he wanted to let on.

“
Since Mexico?” she dared to ask.

She was pleased to see he didn’t tense when she mentioned the place where he’d watched a boy die. “Yeah, since then,” he answered without heat. “And probably before that. Skip tracing...” He paused at the use of the more current name for the business of bounty hunting, “Well, it’s a rough life. You’re out on your own with no one on your side. A lot of bounty hunters aren’t much more than borderline crooks themselves. I’d like to...maybe do more with my life.”

She put a hand on his arm. “Like what?”

Beneath her hand, she felt him stiffen. He chuckled, but his golden eyes turned hard. “Hell. Maybe I’ll run for president. Who knows?”

She felt a little hurt—and left out of the harsh joke. “Joe, I didn’t mean to—”

“
Right. Sure.”

“
All I asked was what you might do instead. Is there something wrong with my asking that? It seemed like a logical question.” She tried to pull her hand away.

He snared it so quickly she hardly saw him move. “Yeah. A logical question. And you said it so politely.’’

She was bewildered. One minute they’d been having a nice conversation, and then suddenly he’d turned defensive on her. “And just how else would I say it?”

“
How about a little honesty? How about just saying what you’re thinking. You know, ‘Joe, are you
crazy
? What
else
will you do? You barely made it through high school. How are you going to
eat
?’”

“
That is
not
what I was thinking, and it’s unfair of you to assume it was.” She tried to jerk her hand from his grasp.

He held on
.
He said nothing for a moment as his hand held hers prisoner, and his eyes branded her. Then his expression softened. He spoke gently, regretfully. “I know.”

She was still hurt. “You know you were being unfair?”

“
Yeah.”

“
Then why did you do it? Why did you... attack me like that?”

“
I’m thin-skinned about this. To be honest, I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do for work if I give up what I know.”

Claire studied his lean face and then suggested, “Maybe we could just kick some ideas around. Explore the options. Talk about what you know and what you can do, and see what kind of jobs you might be able to apply your experience to.”

He was rolling his eyes. “Okay, okay. But later.”

“
When?”

“
Sometime in the next few days, all right?”

“
Deal,” she said, pleased, hoping that when they did talk about this, she could be of help to him. He had done so much for her lately, she was beginning to feel there was no way she could repay him.

She relaxed, and felt his hand relax around her own. They smiled at each other.

And then he reeled her in by her captured hand, so she came up against him. Her breasts brushed his chest. She hitched in a breath and stared up at him.

“
Claire?”

She moistened her lips. “Yes?”

He watched her mouth. “To tell the truth, there’s something else I’d rather do now than talk...”

He didn’t have to say more. She knew what was on his mind. It was clear in his amber eyes. Still, she wanted him to say more. She wanted him to say that he wanted her here as much as she wanted to be here, that he desired her as much as she desired him. She wanted all the beautiful words that lovers always want, including the words
I love you,
though she’d long ago accepted that she would never hear those words from Joe Tally’s lips.

“
Hell, I...”

“
Yes?”

“
I... put your suitcase in the guest room, like I promised your mother.”

She smiled, knowing that what she and Joe wanted of each other was something mothers, in spite of all their righteous efforts, are rarely able to prevent. Still smiling, she touched his collar with her free hand and let her fingers trail up to caress his neck and the side of his jaw. His skin felt almost smooth. She realized he must have showered and shaved early this morning while she still slept.

Gruffly, he went on. “I also... took care of the contraception problem when we were in Grass Valley.”

She glanced away, and then back. From somewhere far off, her conscience chattered at her, insisting that it was dishonest not to tell him that contraception was totally unnecessary.

Claire shut the chatter out. She’d said nothing when he made the brief stop at the drugstore, though she’d known what he would buy there. She would say nothing now. This
time with Joe was a lifeline for her. She would neither say nor do anything to endanger it.

Her life was coming apart. Was it so wrong, for a little while at least, to want the chance to simply
feel
and
be?

Unaware of the battle her conscience was trying to put up, Joe released her hand and tenderly cupped her face. Then he began combing her hair in lingering strokes with his fingers.

The chatter of her conscience faded away to nothing as Claire clutched his strong shoulders and pressed closer against him.

“
Claire, I want you.” He lowered his mouth and kissed her, and Claire forgot what the word
conscience
meant. Then his hands were sliding down her neck and over her shoulders. He began rubbing her back. “And I want to make love with you,” he said. “I want to make love with you now.”

She couldn’t find words. So she nodded instead.

J
oe Tally looked down at Claire’s upturned, inviting face. Her lips were soft; they waited for his kisses. Her body leaned eagerly into his, as sweet and compliant as his was hard and hungry. Her dark eyes were shining.

He knew that what they were about to do was probably one massive mistake for everyone. It was not good for Claire, who had never been anything but kind and generous to him. It was dishonest to her mother, who had only gone along with his bringing Claire here because he had sworn that he and Claire were nothing more than friends.

And for himself, it was plain stupid. He’d always been careful to keep away from Claire—until that night several weeks ago, anyway. But that night he’d broken his own rule about her. He’d put his hands on her, he’d been inside her. And he’d spent too damn much time since then thinking about being inside her some more—and reminding himself
how he’d sworn to both of them that he wouldn’t do a thing like that again.

Yet here he was, with her in his arms. And nothing was going to stop him. He would do it again.

Plain stupid. Because, in the end, for her sake, he would have to give her up. And that was going to be grim.

“
Joe?” Her sweet, flushed face showed concern. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

He put his hands on the curve of her back and pulled her so snugly into him that her breasts swelled full against his chest and he could feel the warm cove between her thighs, that hot and welcoming place where he most wanted to be.

“
Nothing’s wrong,” he muttered. “Not a damn thing...” And he took her soft, waiting mouth with his own.

She sighed and opened for him. With his tongue, eager and knowing, he explored the moist place beyond her lips, starved for the taste of her, as he’d been since that first taste, all those weeks ago.

He kissed her for a long time, tasting her at his leisure, as they stood there against the kitchen counter. And then his hands found the buttons of her shirt and he slipped them quickly from their holes. With a hungry moan, he pushed the thing off her shoulders, revealing the sweet swells beneath, protected now only by her ivory-colored bra.