Ryker’s Justice (5 page)

For
one brief moment, he considered saying it wasn’t. Her eyes were bad, despite
the glasses she’d always worn, and he could probably wing it. But she was his
Mama’s sister and he couldn’t bring himself to do it. “Yes, Auntie, it’s me.”

“I
thought so,” she said. She patted his arm and peered at him. “You look fine,
boy.”

“Thanks.”

“What
brings you to the grocery store today? I didn’t figure you did much
cookin
’.”

“Oh,
I burn water once in a while,” he told her. The joke failed to bring a laugh
and he wondered why until he saw his aunt staring at Nicole with her myopic
glare.

“Who’s
this pretty thing? Is it that
Dawnie
Williamson, used
to be a cheerleader? The one you used to think hung the moon and stars.”

Beside
him, Nicole snorted and stifled a giggle. Jude sighed. The former
Dawnie
Williamson was now a mother of four and last he’d
heard, a grandmother too at the age of thirty-six. “No, Aunt Tillie, it’s not
Dawnie
. This is a friend of mine, Nicole McAdoo.”

Tillie’s
lips curved into a smile. “Oh,” she said.
“Oh, my.
Well,
I’m pleased to meet you, miss. Are you from around here? I don’t recognize the
name.”

“No,
ma’am,” Nicole answered. Before she could jump into the dangerous rapids a
conversation with Aunt Tillie could hold, Jude provided the rest of the reply.
“She’s over at the inn with Rick and Mary,” he said. “She’s a
Tennessee
girl.”

“Oh,
that’s nice.” His aunt cackled with laughter. “It’s about time you got busy
courtin
’, Judie.”

The
old nickname rankled. His mama had used it when he was still in diapers, no one
else since. “Uh-huh. Well, I don’t want to keep you from your shopping, Auntie,
so we’ll move on ahead…”

“Oh,
I’m in no hurry,” Tillie said and fastened her old gnarled fingers around his
arm in a grip a python would envy. “I’ve got lots of time.”

With
a sinking sensation, Jude knew she did. She probably haunted the supermarket
and whiled away the hours gossiping and talking with people she knew. They
might be stuck for hours unless he decided to be rude. He almost had after
twenty more minutes during which Tillie described her nightly struggle to sleep
and dished her neighbors, when finally salvation arrived.

Jude
didn’t even glance up when the shopping cart rattled to a stop beside them but
he stepped out of the way, certain he must be blocking the cake mix or powdered
sugar.

“
Unca
Jude!” a young voice proclaimed. “Want kisses!”

He
whirled around to see his three-year-old niece. Nora shot him her gap-toothed
grin and he lifted her out of the cart. “Hi, babe,” he said. Then he kissed the
back of her neck while she giggled.

“Hello,
Jude,” Tania, his
brother
Elijah’s wife, said. Nora
had been their mid-life surprise, a last child after the other three were all
but grown-up.
“Hi, Aunt Tillie.”

“Howdy to you, Tania, and to this
little munchkin, too.
Isn’t she adorable?” Tillie loved kids above all else, the younger the better.
“She sure has taken to you, Jude.”

The
kid had and he didn’t know why. Nora tugged his heartstrings, too. All Jude had
done was play with her when he visited Elijah’s bunch. She liked his silly
faces, his animal noises, and the funny voices he’d had a knack for since childhood.
The other kids were all grown or almost grown, and he’d never been home enough
to play with them the way he did Nora. Jude wasn’t sure who enjoyed it most,
the little gal or him. Nora evoked a yearning he never thought he would have,
the desire for his own children.
Someday.
Maybe.

“She
has,” Tania said. “Here, let Nora go see Auntie.”

Although
she didn’t ask, Jude noticed the curious way she glanced at Nicole. He handed
the baby over as directed. Before questions began, he said, “Tania, meet Nicole.
Nicole, this is my sister-in-law, Tania Ryker, my
brother
Elijah’s wife.”

Tania
kept up with gossip or moved in different circles than Aunt Tillie. “Hi,” she
said. “You’re staying at Cockrell’s, aren’t you?”

“Yes,
that’s me.”

Her
voice stretched out, thin and uncomfortable. Jude salvaged the situation before
it deteriorated further. He draped one arm across Nicole’s shoulders. “We need
to go,” he said. “But tell Elijah we’ll be at the game tonight. I’m looking
forward to watching David play ball.”

A
smile lit Tania’s face. “He’ll be thrilled…David, I mean. ‘
Lijah
, too.
Sure, Jude,
we’ll see you there.”

Ten
minutes later, after a long wait at the checkout, he stowed their purchases in
the bed of the truck. Nicole climbed into the seat, and when he joined her she
burst into laughter.

“What’s
so funny?” he asked.

“You
warned me. I thought you were over exaggerating but apparently not.”

“Nope,
but I’m glad you see the humor in it. I was afraid you’d be upset.”

Nicole
screwed up her features somewhere between a grin and a grimace. “I might’ve but
I didn’t see any point to throwing a fit,” she said. “I guess you’re stuck with
me now, huh?”

His
dick stiffened and his heart jumped several beats. Jude liked the idea, more
than he should. “
There’s worse things
,” he said with
effort. “Come on, let’s go home.”

Halfway
there, he realized what he’d said and how it must have sounded, but it was too
late to change it. As he drove slowly down the rutted, narrow drive, Jude tried
to imagine how it might appear to her eyes. Memphis raised, with limited
country experience in the flat Delta, the rugged Ozark forest had to seem alien
to Nicole, he thought. Despite the view she’d had from her window at the inn,
up close and personal, everything around him screamed wild. The tall trees,
some so broad-based they had to be a century old, were covered with wild
grapevine in many places. In the shadiest spots, ferns grew, more lush than
anything at a florist shop. Wildflowers blossomed in the sunny spaces, purple
coneflowers and brown-eyed
Susans
beside Queen Anne’s
lace, and vivid Indian paintbrush added color to the greens.

On
the last bit of the lane, the trees arched overhead, with their branches
touching to create a tunnel effect. Depending on mood and point of view, it
could be beautiful or scary. He rolled down his window to let in the fresh
scent of the woods and snuck a glance at her face. Jude almost hoped she’d be
frowning, so he could begin writing her off as another city girl who couldn’t
take his country heat.

Nicole’s
rapt expression cancelled the possibility. Her eyes sparkled as she turned from
side to side, admiring the scenery. He liked the color in her cheeks and the
delightful smile playing across her lips. “This is so beautiful,” she told him.
“It’s like something out of a fairy tale.”

He’d
long thought so, too, but he teased her. “Yeah, sure—maybe on the way to the
witch’s cottage in
Hansel and Gretel
or the place where the Big Bad Wolf is skulking around waiting to devour
Little
Red Riding Hood
.”

“Not
at all,” Nicole said. “It’s enchanted in a lovely way. I almost expect to see
fairies or nymphs dancing or maybe Thumbelina. Or, even Laura Ingalls Wilder
and her family trekking through the wilderness.”

No
woman could fake such appreciation. “Maybe you’d better hold back until you see
the house,” Jude said. “It’s not much.”

Moments
later, they came into the clearing and he parked. The old three-story frame
house stood tall, the long-since rusted tin roof a bright magenta among the
foliage. Although it used to be white, it’d been years since the house had been
painted, so the weathered boards were a seasoned gray. The shutters around the
downstairs window used to be dark green but they’d faded. Some of the boards
around the base of the wraparound porch sagged, and he noticed the steps
leading onto the porch displayed cracks. The fieldstone fireplace on the left
side still stood straight, however, but there were more weeds than flowers in
the dooryard. He noticed the barn appeared to be ready to collapse in the first
strong wind that blew. A wave of sadness passed through him like a cold chill.

Structurally,
the house remained sound and could be fixed to last another hundred years or
so. Most of the things wrong were cosmetic or could be easy to repair. If he
were planning to stay, Jude figured he could have it back in shape within a few
months. With all of his focus on the investigation, he hadn’t noticed the sorry
state of the house until now.
She must
think it’s a real dump, an eyesore. I shouldn’t have invited her here at all. I
bet she’s going to turn her high-class little nose up in the air and ask me to
take her back to the inn in a hurry.

“I
know it’s not what you expected,” he began.

“It’s
a hundred times better,” Nicole exclaimed. “It’s classic, Jude, a real American
farmhouse, a pioneer home. I love it. If I owned a place like this, I’d
probably never leave.”

Her
enthusiasm pleased him. “I know it’s pretty rough at the moment but…”

“Think
how pretty it would look with some climbing roses on a trellis at the end of
the porch,” she cried. “I’d plant some geraniums in pots, too, bright red ones.
Are those lilac bushes over there?”

“Yeah,
one purple and one white,” Jude replied. His mother had planted flowers and
long ago there had been a rose trellis. “And there’s Rose of Sharon on that
side.”

“And
a
spirea
bush, too.” Her tone contained such wonder
he almost thought she was putting on to joke but one glance at her face made
him realize none of it was feigned. “Jude, this is fantastic.”

Yesterday
he would’ve replied that it wasn’t, that it was no more than an old house in
the middle of nowhere with more memories than a future. Today he agreed, and
the fact that he did scared the holy crap out of him. He didn’t dare say
anything now but a simple, “Yeah, let’s go in the house.”

And
he reached for her hand.

Chapter Five

If
he hadn’t made an effort to clean up the interior, he probably wouldn’t have
allowed Nicole or any woman into the house. As he opened the door, he thanked God
and any saints who might be in the vicinity that he’d removed his daddy’s
stained furniture and collected rubbish. Although the furnishings were now
minimal, at least the place could be considered clean. Jude headed for the
kitchen, his hands full of grocery bags, but Nicole stopped beyond the front
door and gawked. Jude tensed, waiting, but when she commented, it was with
admiration.

“It’s
just as gorgeous inside,” she said. Jude studied the large open living room with
the hearth on the far side. He gazed at the wooden staircase climbing upward
from the open entryway and toward the door leading first into the dining room,
then the kitchen.

“Thanks,”
he replied. He probably should say more but he didn’t know what. “Kitchen’s
through here.”

Nicole
praised the solid wood vintage cabinets and ran her hand across the smooth pine
surface with wonder. She opened the tiny, ancient fridge and peered inside. Jude
closed his eyes in silent thanks that he’d bothered to clean it as she moved on
to the stove, a behemoth.

“So
what do you think?” he asked, leaning as nonchalantly as possible against the
scarred kitchen table.

“I
like it. It’s homey,” she said. “Your appliances could do with an upgrade, but
for now, they suit the room.”

“Can
you manage the stove?”

She
lifted her head and faced him. “Oh, yeah, I can. It’s very much like the one my
grandparents had. I can light the burners and oven if necessary.”

“It
is,” Jude said. “You have to…”

“Be
careful,” she finished his sentence. “Yes, I’m aware. I don’t suppose you might
have an apron tucked away somewhere?”

“I
doubt it.” But he found one, faded and mended, in a bottom drawer he hadn’t
touched. As he tied it around Nicole’s waist, Jude remembered his mother wearing
it. It should have looked silly over her skinny jeans and long-sleeved golden
blouse, but it didn’t.

Jude
watched as she became familiar with the contents of the cupboards, lifting down
mixing bowls and digging for the right pots. She put away the groceries and set
to work. When she stopped, he knew he’d been busted. “Go find something to do,”
she told him. “Take a nap, split some wood, go hunting or fishing. I can’t cook
when you’re watching.”

He
opened his mouth to protest and before he could speak, Nicole stood on tiptoe. She
pressed her lips against his and he closed his mouth, eager for the kiss. Although
it was light, little more than a peck, it conjured up desire and he dug deep
for enough willpower to resist taking her in the kitchen. Jude broke away
first, before he lost control, and slammed out through the back door with a
mighty twang. He stalked toward the woods, prepared to hike away his powerful
erection and to gather his turbulent emotions in the privacy of the trees. Behind
him, he heard Nicole begin to sing and God help him, he thought he’d come in
his jeans.