Garden of Dreams (7 page)

“I need to talk with you. If you'd sit still a minute, I could sit, too.” JD hobbled into the greenhouse after her, then stopped and gazed around.

Nina ignored him. In here, she knew who she was, what she was doing, where she planned to go. The plants welcomed her. If she talked to them, they didn't talk back, except to wave an occasional frond or sprout another blossom. Plants had their own lives, their own whims, but they didn't bite the hand that fed them. She liked the sense of appreciation she felt in here. She certainly didn't get it from teaching.

She checked her begonia cuttings for moisture, then watered her granddaddy fern. She'd practically supplied the entire county with ferns from this old fellow.

“I thought Jackie said you were a teacher. Are you a florist, too?” He still stood at the entrance of the greenhouse, gazing at the jungle she'd created.

“Plants are just a hobby. I barely cover my costs by selling a few cuttings here and there. I raise a few poinsettias and Easter lilies for the church, a few begonias and petunias and things for the Piggly Wiggly to set out in the spring. The rest is for my own benefit. What did you want to talk about, Mr. Smith?”

“Why are we back to this Mr. Smith business? What happened to JD?” He hobbled down an aisle for a better look at an orchid climbing up a support post toward the roof. She'd covered the post in bark and moss so the plant had something to grasp.

“I thought I'd wait to see that driver's license before committing to any name,” Nina answered idly, putting the watering can down and checking the geranium seedlings to see if she should separate them yet.

He remained silent for a moment longer. “Jackie could have been a little more imaginative in his choice of names, I suppose,” he admitted.

Nina shot him a suspicious look. He'd smoothed the long tangle of his black hair off his forehead, revealing the stark white swath of bandage against bronzed skin. Gary had brought up their duffel bags with the motorcycle, and she noticed her guest had apparently dug out a brown leather vest to cover a clean T-shirt. But the attempts at civilization only emphasized her guest's features. He definitely had Native American blood. She should have seen it earlier and not made that joke about Pocahontas.

“When did Bob say your truck would be fixed?”

“Will you believe me if I tell you I'm protecting you by not using my real name?” He ignored her question about the truck.

Nina ran her fingers through her cropped hair and glared at him. “Look, mister. I've done everything any decent law-abiding citizen can do. You, on the other hand, have done nothing but lie. You'll excuse me if I ask what I can do to help you leave.”

He took another look at the orchid, then gazed around the lush greenhouse before turning back to her. “If I offer you a thousand a month in rent, will you let us stay?”

Miss Nina Toon looked as if he'd dropped a ton of bricks on her. Maybe he had. JD didn't know the rent in an area like this, but he assumed it in no way equaled the extortionate sums commanded in Los Angeles. He'd impulsively thrown out the first number coming to mind that might have some impact on her finances. He could remember living on a marine sergeant's salary. A thousand extra a month would have opened whole new horizons. A teacher would fit in a similar category.

As much as the greenhouse fascinated him, JD couldn't take his eyes off the petite statue frozen in the aisle. She wasn't wearing those atrocious bib shorts today. She'd apparently dressed for guests by donning a breezy, flowery long dress that she wore over a tight ribbed shirt. He personally thought the combination awful, but he admitted to some prejudice against long skirts over those lovely legs. If she had breasts, the dress's loose bodice disguised the fact. He rather thought if she had anything to show, she would. Women usually knew their most attractive assets. So he could assume she hid what she didn't have. Lust-crazed idiot that he was, that didn't keep him from wanting to see more.

Since she didn't answer him immediately, JD tried explaining in a manner that might reassure her doubts. “Look, I just talked to the mechanic. It will be weeks before he can put the truck together. I promised Jackie we'd have a little fun together this summer. A friend of mine offered the loan of his summer house on Myrtle Beach. I figured I could work on my programming while Jackie made some new friends, and we would have plenty of time to get out and enjoy ourselves.”

He strangled his walking stick in helplessness. “Now we're stranded here in the middle of nowhere. I've already checked, and it's too late to reserve any of the cabins or rooms at the state parks. If we could just have a place to stay, I figure I could make the best of it, take him swimming, waterskiing, whatever. He has a learner's permit. I don't know what the state law is around here, but I thought I could take him out on the Harley. I just need time to get this job done, then the truck should be back together and we can head out for the beach again.”

She still seemed slightly dazed, but she picked up her watering can and began working on another overgrown green monstrosity. JD had never seen so many plants in one place, and he lived in California, for pete's sake. He had the feeling if he took a machete through here, he might uncover a Mayan ruin or two.

“I don't even know you,” she finally murmured, reaching for a fern hanging over her head. “You could be a serial killer for all I know. Maybe if you'd let Hoyt check you out, if you'd given your real name...” She hesitated, making even that possibility seem remote.

JD knotted his fist around the walking stick. The more she resisted, the more he intended to push. His first decision might have been reckless, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized it answered a dozen problems, without his even contemplating the slender woman tempting his vision right now. Add her to the mix, and he settled in concrete. He hadn't gotten where he was today by quitting.

“Look, if I tell you the truth and you see how innocent it is, would you give me a chance?”

For someone of her pale coloring, she certainly had noticeable lashes. Long and cinnamon-colored, they flapped closed, creating soft brown arcs across her cheeks, as if she squeezed her eyes shut in hopes he would disappear. When she opened them again, JD moved a little closer. He didn't know why he did that. He had rotten luck with women—probably his own fault, he admitted honestly. But he'd never learned to curb his impulses.

Nina backed away. He took the watering can and easily watered the plant she strained to reach.

“I can't believe a thing you say,” she reminded him.

“You can check with Jackie. He'll tell you exactly what I'll tell you now.”

He still saw suspicion in her eyes, but she didn't instantly tell him to go to hell. Like she ought to. Even he admitted that.

“Jackie's mother married a man who beats her. Jackie's tried stopping the guy several times and got smashed against the wall for his efforts. Now his stepfather has taken to carrying a gun, and Jackie is terrified of him. It isn't a healthy situation. With school out for the summer, it could become explosive. Jackie tracked me down and called me and asked if he could live with me. I didn't even know about the kid, but I couldn't leave him there.”

The effort of this explanation exhausted him. JD leaned against one of the tables. He wasn't used to explaining himself, and the half truths made everything more difficult. He still shuddered at the situation he'd found in Tempe. He might never forgive himself for not knowing about Jackie. And his anger at himself had led to still another reckless decision. He should never have run off with Jackie without telling Nancy.

“I tried persuading Jackie's mother to come with us, but she refused,” he said carefully. “Nancy thinks the creep will come around now that he's working a steady job. She agreed that the situation would be healthier if Jackie isn't around so much. But she didn't agree to let me take him across the country. She doesn't know where he is, and she's probably called the police on us. I don't want him back in the situation he just left, but if the police find me, that's what will happen. Do you understand?”

She held her arms crossed in front of her as if to ward off a blow. “I understand that you're running from something, most likely the law, and you have an innocent child mixed up in it. Your intentions may be perfectly honorable, but you can't leave the boy's mother scared to death. That's a criminal act in itself.”

His little spiel could have raised a dozen questions, but she zeroed in on the gist of it, undistracted by all the other clouds he'd thrown in her way. JD picked up the watering can again. “You have a laser for a brain, you know that, don't you?”

“I work with kids. It's my job. You learn to see through the dust they kick up. Are you going to call Jackie's mother?”

Tenacious, too. Uncomfortable, JD twisted his shoulders inside the tight shirt. The humidity in here made him itch. Or maybe her razor-sharp gaze had cut invisible gashes in his hide. He didn't want to call Nancy. He couldn't trust her any more than he did Harry and his cohorts. But Nina was right. Nancy had enough problems without worrying about Jackie, too.

“I can't call her. She could have the call traced. But I'll get word to her. Will that suffice?”

“What can you possibly tell her that will make her feel easy again?” she asked, watching him with those wide cat eyes.

“I'll tell her we're at the beach and having a great time. I'll give her my friend's number in case she wants to reach us. She thinks I'm an irresponsible idiot, so she'll buy that.”

“What about your friend? Won't Jackie's mother send the police to question him? I would.”

“It won't do any good. He'll just tell her that I'm sending messages through the computer. By the time the police figure out how to trace me, if they even bother, I'll be back home.”

Nina wanted to believe him. Something rebellious inside her fought the caution her aunt had taught her and clamored to invite this dark-eyed man and his battered brother into her big empty house. Surely a man who worked on computers and troubled himself to take care of his young brother couldn't be dangerous. She wanted to say yes. Thirty years of experience told her she was insane if she did.

“Mr. Smith, I just don't think this is a wise idea,” she answered slowly, avoiding looking at the way his muscles rippled when he stretched to reach the higher plants. Why couldn't the man wear decent shirts like anyone else?

He set the empty watering can down. His biceps bulged even more than Hoyt's. Nina had the strange notion that all her hormones had shot straight to her brain. They'd never done that once in her entire lifetime. Maybe she was one of those insane women who fell for criminal types.

“What is it you want most in life, Miss Toon?”

Startled by the question, Nina jerked her head around. Big mistake. Dark eyes had turned serious, and his mouth had pulled into a straight line that almost made him... intriguing. Not handsome. Just intriguing. She shrugged. “I've never given it much thought. I have a house and all the land I could want. I have dozens of children every winter that I can get rid of in the summer, an ideal situation if I ever heard one. I've never felt the need for a man in my life. I can't think of anything else that I could want.”

She felt his glare cut into her back as she returned to her work.

“No dreams at all? Anyone of intelligence has dreams. You don't strike me as particularly stupid. There must be something, even if it's just a glassed-in porch or a new red sports car.”

He was trying to bribe her! That thought jolted her out of her near complacency. Only a criminal would throw around those kind of dreams. Nina dropped her spading shovel and faced him squarely. “I have dreams, all right, mister. I have big dreams. I don't squander wishes on tawdry red cars or pretty windows. If I'm going to wish and dream, I'll do it right. What I want is an entire botanical garden. I want those acres out there turned into a wonderland of plants and trees. I'd show the world the true beauty of this area, draw tourists in year-round so the town doesn't starve every winter. I want fern forests and Japanese pagodas, lily ponds and English mazes. There's swampland down the back near the lake that I could turn into an environmental learning center and habitat for wildlife. I could spend a lifetime creating a living monument to my aunt. Now how's that for dreams, Mr. Smith?”

His startled expression slowly turned to a genuine smile as she spoke. Crinkles formed in the corners of his eyes, and a dimple formed on one side of his mouth. That dimple caused chaos inside her, and Nina gave up spinning dreams to clutch the table behind her with both hands.

“I like the way you think, Nina Toon. I like it real well. Nothing in this world would ever get accomplished unless someone, somewhere, had the dream first. All right. I'll help you on the road to your dream. I don't know much about botanical gardens. You'll have to sit down and make plans of what needs doing first. You'll need cost estimates. I can't finance the whole thing. No one could. But I can find investors, government grants, whatever. If you have the land, half the problem is already solved.”

She couldn't believe he'd said that. She couldn't believe she was hearing it. The sudden bright red balloon of hope nearly blinded her. A white knight galloping to rescue her from phone companies, crooked lawyers, inertia, and poverty sprang up wildly in her imagination.