Someone To Watch Over Me (Harlequin Super Romance) (17 page)

Steadying herself, Isabella clutched the railing. “Your brakes are fine. A wind’s come up. Someone needs to cut a few branches away from the house before they rub the paint off.” She walked up the steps and hurried past her sister, determined not to show any reaction to Gabe’s kiss that could be questioned by her family. He’d been mistaken. He might have aroused a physical longing in her, but her heart remained as lifeless as ever. It’d be best if she forgot about the idea of looking at old court cases with him. Yes, that would definitely be best.

Trini followed Isabella inside and before they reached the stairs, leaned over to murmur conspiratorially, “Did you have a good time with Gabe tonight? Is he a good kisser?”

“What?” Isabella tripped over the sleeve of the jacket she’d just removed.

Trini poked her. “Only kidding, Bella. I wanted to shake you up. You seem so…distracted tonight. Wasn’t he able to get permission for you to see those court cases?”

“He did, but—”

“Good,” Trini said, talking right over her sister. “Hayden phoned an hour ago. They’ve assigned a trial date. Jury selection starts Tuesday of next week. You need to phone him back. He’d like to get together with you on Monday for a last look at your deposition and
his notes. So if you and Gabe find anything new, I guess you’ll want to show him then.”

Isabella sagged against the wall. “It’s really going to happen. I’ve waited so long.”

“Yeah, well since Hayden phoned, the family’s been arguing over what to do.”

“Arguing? Why? Aren’t they pleased it’ll finally be decided?”

“It’s the timing, Bella. But go on into the living room, they’ll tell you.”

She did go inside, unsure what problems awaited her. “Mama. Papa. Rick. Ruby. Joe.” One by one Isabella named them. Only the sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law were missing. “Trini tells me this meeting concerns Julian’s trial. I don’t understand. We’ve all been waiting…praying for this call.”

Benito got up and dragged a chair in front of the fireplace. “We all want to be there for you,
caro.
But we prayed…since they waited this long, they’d hold off till summer.” Gathering Isabella’s hand in his gnarled one, he sat her gently in the chair.

“Yeah,” Joe grumbled. He paused in his whittling to scowl. Whittling was Joe’s way of calming an attack of nerves. “Their timing couldn’t be worse, Bella. For any of us. We’re smack in the middle of a bumper lamb crop. Within two weeks, there’ll be more dropping all across the hills. Rick’s leased equipment to fertilize all his orchards, otherwise his apples won’t be worth marketing. And if Manny and Louis want a grape crop, they’ve gotta do whatever it is they do to the vines this time of year.”

“Cluster thinning,” Manny supplied from the corner.

Isabella fought a surge of panic. She’d counted on
the support of her family during a time that was sure to be the roughest ordeal she’d faced since the funerals. Her turbulent eyes sought those of her mother and her three sisters.

Trini glanced guiltily away. “I have tests in all my classes coming up, and no break until Easter.”

Ruby wrung work-worn hands. “Either Sylvia or I should stick close to home in case Christina goes into labor. We promised Manny. Not only that, I’m drowning in berries I have to turn into jam before they rot. I picked everything at once after the storm. So, Sylvia, I’ll stay home for Christina. You and Mama go with Isabella.”

Benito roused himself. “I need your mama to help with the sick or premature lambs. Trying to run back and forth to Bend every day is out of the question.”

“I thought I’d book a motel, Papa. I’m not sure I’m up to driving that route every day, either.” Isabella twisted a button on her blouse.

Sylvia went to hug her. “Bella, Angel won’t want me staying in Bend for…how long will the trial run? Our kids have games and band practice after school. I’m in a car pool. I can try and trade one or two days, but… Oh, why did they move the trial anyway?”

“There’s no guessing how long it’ll be,” Luisa said. “I asked that when Mr. Hayden phoned. He said jury selection alone could take a week or more.”

Isabella rubbed her hands along her skirt. “Look, I don’t want any of you making sacrifices. I can handle the jury selection process on my own. After the trial starts, maybe some of you will be able to spare a day here and there.”

“We should all be lined up with you,” Benito in
sisted. “Did the prosecutor tell the judge it’d cause a hardship on you to move the trial, Bella?”

“He did, Papa. He filed three different motions. They all failed.”

“Why?” Manny demanded.

“A number of reasons,” Isabella said bitterly. “Too much local media coverage. Overwhelming sentiment in the valley. Hayden said a change of venue isn’t uncommon in high-profile cases—they think it’s easier to select jurors that way. Fair jurors.”

“As if anyone who sees the facts won’t think Julian’s nuts,” Rick snapped.

Isabella jumped up. “Take care where you say that, Rick. Half of Julian’s defense hinges on his copping an insanity plea. I want him convicted of murder.”

Joe closed his knife and pocketed the whistle he was carving. “What else does he have as a defense?”

“Read the papers, Joe. The creep Julian’s folks hired to defend him leaked suggestions to the press that Julian’s been maligned. He’s saying Bella drove Julian to commit what they’re terming a
crime of passion.
” Manny’s dark eyes flashed malevolently.

“Ah, to hell with the flock,” Benito exclaimed. “I won’t allow Bella to sit in that courtroom alone if that’s how they’re going to treat her.”

“Papa, the trial itself will be civilized. Those are just words Julian’s lawyer will throw around. Compared to what I’ve already faced, what can mere words do to hurt me?”

“I don’t like it,” Benito insisted. His scowl cowed everyone in the room. All at once he snapped his fingers. “What about Gabe? Joe, can he learn enough in a week to take my place? That’ll free me up to go with Bella.”

Joe snorted. “Three months maybe, Papa. No way could he be ready in one week. Especially during the most frantic lambing season yet.”

Luisa Navarro clasped her husband’s arm. “Benito, perhaps a better solution would be to ask Gabe to attend the trial instead of me.”

Rick catapulted from his chair, knocking it over with a bang. “What kind of damn fool idea is that, Mama? The man’s a
maketo,
” he spat. An outsider.

“No, Papa.” Isabella picked up her brother’s chair. “Much as it pains me to agree with Rick when he’s acting like a billy goat, I have to say he’s right. Gabe has no stake in this.”

Manny stood. “It’s getting late. I’ve gotta go home.”

“Me, too.” Joe retrieved a pile of jackets. As he handed them around, he said, “I recall a conversation with Gabe where he mentioned that Summer Marsh…er…Quinn had clued him in on Bella’s situation. I think he’s sympathetic.”

Trini straightened from where she bent to stoke the fire. “Gabe knows as much as anyone who isn’t family. Not only did he accompany Bella to the cemetery, he’s wangled access to Larkin Crosley’s law library for her to read about similar cases. And he knows his way around a courthouse.”

That information slowly seeped through to the family members still pondering Isabella’s fate.

“I said I’ll handle this on my own,” Isabella snapped, even though she felt a niggle of guilt. After all, she’d asked Gabe to do her a favor; she’d agreed to help him choose furniture in return. And tonight, she’d run off without even looking at his brochures.
Still, that deal was between her and Gabe. It had nothing to do with tonight’s family summit.

To stave off another clan discussion, Isabella made a point of kissing everyone and pointedly saying goodnight. As fast as her feet would carry her, she ran up to her room. Her family might not approve of her taking matters into her own hands, but in the past they’d abided by her wishes. She had no reason to doubt the same would be true in this instance.

T
HE NEXT EVENING
, when she met Gabe outside Larkin Crosley’s office, she discovered how wrong she’d been.

He greeted her, saying, “Why didn’t you tell me last night that they’re going to begin jury selection? No wonder you had a rotten day. That news alone would jangle your nerves, let alone finding out most of your family can’t be there for you.”

Unlocking the main building door, Gabe moved aside to let Isabella precede him into a foyer lit only by the exit sign.

“My day fell apart before any of that. I didn’t learn the trial updates until after I arrived home last night.”

“I’m glad, because I hope you know I’d never have waited for your dad to ask me to go with you. I’d have volunteered on my own.”

Gabe had trailed her up one flight of warped oak steps. She stopped on the landing. “Why? Why would Papa ask, and why would you agree? Curiosity? You can read about it in the newspaper or watch highlights on TV. We’re the best sideshow in the valley,” she said bitterly, letting her frustration from last night emerge. Her lack of sleep didn’t help, either.

Ignoring her anger, Gabe calmly sorted through the keys on the ring. When he found the one he wanted,
he fit it in the door emblazoned with Crosley’s name. “You could’ve slapped me last night. Then your irritation over my kissing you would all be out of your system by now.”

Pausing inside the office, which smelled of musty books and lemon furniture polish, Isabella flinched when Gabe turned on the bright overhead lights. “This isn’t about a kiss.”

“No?” He slid home the dead bolt and tucked the keys back in his pocket.

“It’s about my father’s arrogance. And yours.”

“Your father’s anything but arrogant, Isabella. He approached me with hat in hand because he loves you. I agreed out of respect for him, and because I’ve been in lonely spots myself. I know what a difference it makes to have a friend standing by your side.”

The low murmur of Gabe’s voice, coupled with his sincerity, pierced the armor she thought she had solidly in place. “You humble me, Gabe.”

He shrugged offhandedly, suddenly embarrassed. “Forget it. Let’s get to work. Larkin gave me the general layout of his library, and showed me how to use his card catalogue. I wish he had his index computerized. But he doesn’t, so we’ll have to work around that. Why don’t you have a seat at that long table? I’ll start pulling books.”

“I brought some yellow tablets to take notes.” She pulled them out of a straw handbag.

“I’d like to say there’s no way we’ll find that many of these awful cases. I know better. Unfortunately there are a lot of sick people in this world.”

“Julian’s not sick. He’s perfectly healthy. And he was fine the morning he came and got Antonia and Ramon for their visitation.”

“I know that’s what you believe, Isabella. But something must have snapped after you saw him. Spite doesn’t seem enough of a motive for murder-suicide.”

She pressed her lips in a thin line and clapped her hands over her ears, spinning away from Gabe.

He dropped his chin to his chest and massaged the back of his neck. He noticed her shoulders shaking and moved in behind her, looping his arms around her. “The last thing I’d ever do is hurt you, Isabella,” he declared. “Either way, the state is going to put Julian away for a long, long time, whether they incarcerate or institutionalize him. Won’t you be better served devoting your time and energy to healing yourself?”

“I’ll never heal. Never, never, never,” she chanted in a raspy voice.

Pressing a soft kiss to her ear, Gabe felt her stiffen, and he ended up patting her awkwardly. “I’ll start digging out books.” There was a raw bleakness in his voice.

She’d managed to pull herself together by the time he came back carrying two fat volumes of text.

He took a minute and showed her how to scan the cases he’d marked. “The first part of a court document is fairly standard posturing on the part of both law teams. You’ll want to skip the opening arguments and read the closing summation.”

When Gabe deposited the sixth book on the table, he noticed that Isabella sat staring into space. All she’d written was maybe three pages of notes.

“Need a break?” he asked, sliding into a chair across from her. “Larkin said he got rid of his coffee-maker. He’s here so few hours a day that if he wants coffee, he runs down to the Green Willow. They’re
probably still open. I’d be glad to go grab a couple of take-out cups.”

Isabella lowered her head. She began rubbing her forehead with the tips of her fingers. “I know you warned me,” she said. “Reading these graphic descriptions is more difficult than I ever dreamed.”

Rising, Gabe circled the table. Standing behind her, he rested his hands on her fragile shoulder bones and walked his thumbs up her tense spine.

“That feels good.”

“Are you finding anything worthwhile?”

She sighed. “I don’t know. I want so badly to cry. But…I can’t.”

Gabe tugged her up, out of her chair. He took her in his arms, wanting to cry for her. With her. Odd. And unnerving, as he’d never been a man who showed emotion easily. For much of his life, he’d been cast in the role of protector. He’d just never felt such
intensity
about keeping anyone safe. More, even, than the times he’d sent men under his command to face an enemy.

Isabella burrowed into the snug hollow in the middle of his chest. She ran her hands up under his collar, smoothing her palms back and forth over the crispness of his shirt.

After several minutes, he shifted. The slow friction of her hands, along with the sweet scent of her perfume, stirred a portion of his body he didn’t think she wanted to stir.

“So, do we buckle down and between the two of us get through this nasty chore? Or shall we call it a night, return the books to the shelves and I’ll see you home?”

Lifting her head, Isabella gazed at him from cloudy eyes. “I need to buckle down and get the job done,” she said with resolve. “But first, I have to thank you.
You’re the only man I know who seems to understand the value of a simple hug. My sisters hug me often. Or Mama. A man’s hug is…well, different. I can’t tell you how badly I needed what you just did. A plain old hug with no sexual strings attached.”