The Enemy's Son (6 page)

Nick had left her several cans of food and a can opener on the table, but there wasn’t a note or any sign of him. This was her chance… but she looked back at the cans and decided she needed to eat something first.

“Canned peaches, canned nectarines, or canned pears for breakfast?” Settling on canned peaches, she opened it and ate the entire can.

After eating, she slowly walked to the front door, hoping to look around for Nick before darting out. The aged wood of the cabin creaked and groaned with each step inside its walls. The brightness outside blinded her at first.

It looked clear but she swore she heard footsteps approaching along the cabin. She stepped back, wondering if it was Nick or her imagination. If he wasn’t right there, she was going to run for it.

Alexander, and not Nick, stepped into view and sent her back several feet with a gasp. He smirked and tilted his head in greeting, looking her up and down.

“Cora, what are you doing sneaking around?” He blocked her way, his hands on his hips, and wet spots on his T-shirt under each arm.

“I’m not.”

His hair, slicked to one side, annoyed her. She didn’t like his over-kept look, and really didn’t like the way he looked at her.  

She felt offended and let it show before saying, “Where’s Nick?”

After all the anger she felt at Nick, she preferred him any day over Alexander. The smirk fell from Alexander’s face.
Ha!

“So the two of you got better aquatinted last night?” Alexander, though not a huge man, had a hard face and curt way of saying each word. He tried to bully her into the house, but she felt the overwhelming need to defy him and win this one tiny battle. She crossed her arms and stayed put.

“You must be one lonely and desperate man.” She felt a little too smug in saying that.

Immediately Alexander’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flawed. He stood so close she could see sweat beading up on his face.

For a horrifying second, it looked like he would hit her. She stepped back, a fever-like shiver running down her back. They both heard footsteps behind Alexander, running toward them.

Looking between Alexander and the door, she could see Nick, dressed in a dark green T-shirt, khaki shorts and hiking boots. Alexander followed her gaze back to Nick, and while his head was turned, she darted back behind the wall and sat on the bed.

Seeing Alexander that close to Cora made Nick’s skin crawl. He was glad she stayed inside and Alexander walked to meet him.

He didn’t waste any pleasantries. “Did Jerry find the money this soon?”

Alexander snorted. “Hardly.”

“So what’s the news?”

“He still claims someone else stole it. He’s investigating, he says. My guess is he’ll get himself killed.”

Nick held a straight face but felt like punching Alexander right in that straight, pointed nose of his.

“Did I ruin your plans by showing up?” Alexander’s mouth twisted. “I hope you won’t bother pretending you’re not trying to get her in bed.”

Alexander’s crude words pushed Nick’s buttons. Still, he only shrugged.

“I’m just doing what my father needs me to.” Nick tried to take a non defensive stance to avoid a conflict. “Keith wants her up here for a while, so this is where we’re staying.”

“I don’t buy it, and I don’t know why Keith does.”

Alexander wanted a fight, and a reason to grab Cora and take off with her. “Guess it’s a family thing.”

So much for avoiding a conflict. That had to piss Alexander off.

“Keith doesn’t need a lawyer around,” Alexander said. “You know that, don’t you? You walked away and you’re not getting back in.”

No one needed to say why Alexander felt so strongly. He was Keith’s number one man, and he got there because Nick chose to leave his family.

“Don’t be so sure.” Nick saw a new line of defense. “Maybe a lawyer in the family could do some good.”

Alexander was so stunned he took a step backwards. Then Nick regretted his words because now Alexander had another reason to watch him closely.

“What do you want with Cora?” Nick asked a dangerous question, but somehow he hoped Alexander might let something slip. “Why did you really get her involved?”

The other man laughed. “You know it was the only way to get Jerry to find the money without going to the police. We can’t let information like this out into the press.”

So Alexander’s story remained the same. His actions said otherwise. Nick couldn’t imagine Alexander leaving Keith’s employment, but his instincts told him Alexander wanted Cora for something more than Keith’s plan. Nick also stepped back and said, “We don’t need to get in each other’s way. You do your job and I’ll do mine.”

“That’s right. You do what you’re told.” Alexander turned and stalked off to the path leading to the shed.  

Nick glanced toward the cabin, wondering if Cora heard the conversation.

***

Cora couldn’t imagine what the two men had to talk about. She’d heard parts of the conversation and it sounded like they were just trying to insult each other. A pissing contest, nice. But maybe it helped her that they weren’t working together.

Nick entered the door alone. “Alexander’s leaving again, but I doubt he’ll stay away long. And he might have one of the guys checking on us too.”

That didn’t help her plan.

“Want to get out of here? We could walk down to the stream, it’s not far. I just found a path to a great spot.” He came to her, holding out his hand, and added, “The mountain air will be good for you.”

“Aren’t you worried about Alexander?”

“He has work to do in Eugene. He can’t stay out here spying on us all day.”

She glanced at his hand, accidentally letting her look linger, and then she stood, too afraid of what touching him might do to her.

“I’ll walk to the stream with you, but I don’t trust you.” She wasn’t sure why she needed to say that and throw another jab.

He exhaled and looked hurt for a tiny second before he let it pass. “Fair enough.”

She had to pause outside the door and let her eyes adjust again. He waited and then led the way across the grass to the forest.

“Do you know how my father’s doing?” she asked, thinking maybe Alexander had brought news.  

“He thinks he can find whoever really stole the money.”

She followed him on a deer path through the low-laying ivy and short holly trees growing between the large tree trunks. The soft forest floor hardly made a noise as she walked on it and became a part of the large landscape.

If she timed it right, she could make an escape now, when he wasn’t looking. But Alexander might be. That thought chilled her.

The stream’s rushing sound grew louder as they neared. The path ended in just a few more steps, and the ground sloped down to the water’s edge and a large, flat boulder. She sat on it and pulled off her shoes to put her bare feet in the cold water. The coolness seeped up through the air, giving her tangible relief from the tension left behind. Cora could breathe again.

It was truly beautiful here, untouched by man or the worries of modern life. On the other side of the stream, lush greenery hung over the water while water skippers skimmed across and back again, flying over the round pebbles in the riverbed.

From her side vision, she noticed him watching her, so she gave him a quick glance, mostly to make him look away. He didn’t.

“I was born into that family, but I didn’t choose them.” He spoke quietly. When she left him dangling, he said, “You hate me, don’t you?”

“I don’t want to.” She didn’t? Cora couldn’t say anything more without getting herself into a pot of boiling water. That described how her insides felt sitting next to him. Everything she felt came crashing down on her. She turned away, embarrassed.

He moved next to her and wrapped his arms around her, surprising her at the strong, yet tender, embrace. It was wrong. It had to be, but she didn’t want to push him away or fight him.

Instead she melted into him, glad for the comfort as he pulled her head into the hallow of his neck. They fit together perfectly.

He stroked her hair away from her face and rested his face against her head. She needed this; she needed him. The thought jolted through her brain. It didn’t make sense that she felt such a strong pull to him in these circumstances.

His hand ran down her back, sending a tingling sensation up and down her body.

Suddenly she clearly saw her dad and how defeated he’d looked in Keith’s study. Cora pulled away, her face red. “This is so wrong!”

Nick quickly put a finger over her lips while gazing into her face. His touch felt so personal, she suddenly felt as if he could see every thought and emotion inside her. Looking into his eyes felt like trying to look directly at the sun, but she still couldn’t drop her gaze. She wondered how his soft mouth would feel on hers. Cora wasn’t sure she could muster up a decent amount of indignation if he kissed her.

His gaze searched her eyes and took in her face like he wanted to. With an earnest face, he asked, “If we weren’t in this situation, do you think you could give me a chance?”

“That’s beside the point,” she told him sadly, “Because we are in this situation.”

“That’s
my
point!” He laughed. “If we weren’t.”

She shook her head.

“You wouldn’t give me a chance?”

You don’t need it to win me over
, she thought, but she said, “I can’t think like that right now.”

She couldn’t think about that possibility now because she wanted to run into his arms . . . in any other time and place.

How could she even think about romance when her father was out there somewhere, trying to find a million dollars?

“I’ve been to this spot before,” she told him softly. Seeing the question in his eyes, she went on. “This is the point when I realize I’m going to lose someone.”

Her mind raced back to a day in her childhood, a cold day in January, when she realized her father didn’t tell her things were going to be okay anymore. One day he stopped telling her that her mother was getting better. She sat in the cold on her front steps and knew that her mother was going to die.

Nick held her tighter. “He’s smart. He’s been in there this long, he knows a little something about handling these kind of men. But what can I do to prove to you I’m on your side?”

The timing of his question threw her for a loop.

“Come on, you can’t be a reporter without being curious. What do you want to know about me?” he asked, giving her direction.

She wanted to ask why he looked at her like he wanted to know her, like just seeing her made him smile. Her thoughts ran a circle around the track and pulled up a safe question. Here was her chance to find out something about this man . . . if he told her the truth.

“What kind of career did you study for at college?”

Something came and went in his expression before he said, “Law.”

“Law?” His simple answer brought Cora to her feet. “You’re an attorney?”

Nick jumped up as well. “I’m one of the good guys. I help people when a big corporation takes advantage of them.”