Unnatural Relations (Lust and Lies Series, Book 1) (25 page)

He thought about that for a few seconds. "I don't know. Maybe."

"Well, I can promise you that I'll never make a decision that important without getting your vote first. Okay?" That pleased him enough to give her a real hug.

Easing back, he asked uncertainly, "Do you love him?"

"I don't know yet. It's too soon. But even if I do fall in love with him someday, it wouldn't take away from how much I love you. At the moment, I'd have to say I like him. How about you?"

He shrugged. "He's okay, I guess, but I keep thinking how he's like this girl in my class. She keeps doing things for me and giving me her dessert at lunch."

Barbara made herself remain serious, since he was. "That's not so strange. You're a cute kid."

He grimaced. "Yeah, but she's only like that with me. To other kids, she's really mean. It's like she's a big phony around me just to get me to be her boyfriend."

"Hmmm. I can see why that would bother you. Kyle is obviously going out of his way to get us to like him. So, should I send him home? You and I could spend the afternoon alone... here in the house... instead of going to the zoo."

There was no contest. "Oh, no. That wouldn't be nice."

"Good. But before we go, there's something I have to tell you, even though I wish more than anything that I didn't have to say this." She gave him a moment to prepare for bad news. "Russ came to the house Friday night, before Kyle got here." The worry that instantly filled his eyes made her stomach turn.

"He said he's changed, but I can't trust him. You're on full alert again. He's driving a light-colored Volkswagen bug. Keep an eye out for it and carry Dani's card with you all the time. She could probably get to you faster than I could if you need help any time we're apart. Got it?"

"Got it." He placed his hand over hers. "You promised we could stay here and I'll do whatever I have to, to make sure we do. Remember, I'm not a baby anymore."

Smiling, she gave him another hug. "I remember. Now let's go see how much bigger that baby panda is since the last time we saw it."

By the time they got to the National Zoological Park, Matt appeared to be completely over his pangs of jealousy and was ready to enjoy himself. For the first hour, his attention was all on the animals, with only an occasional sideward glance at Kyle to make sure he wasn't standing too close to his mom.

Suddenly Barbara felt his fingers clamp onto her arm. He was turned around, looking for something behind them. It had been a while since she had seen such a frightened expression on his face, but she remembered well what had caused it in the past.

"What is it?" she asked quietly, as her own gaze scanned the crowd.

"I... I thought I saw him... walking that way. He looked right at me and winked as he passed. But I don't see him now. Maybe it was somebody else, someone that looked like him."

For a second she wondered if he was just imagining seeing Russ because she'd prepped him for it before they left the house, but she immediately dismissed that thought. It was safer to assume Matt did see Russ and act accordingly.

"What's the matter?" Kyle asked.

"Russ Latham may be around somewhere. Matt, what was the man wearing?"

"Old jeans and a jeans jacket. I'm not sure it was him, though. This guy had a mustache and longer hair than Russ ever had."

"His hair
is
longer now," Barbara said. "And the mustache could have been a fake." To Kyle, she explained, "He sometimes disguised his appearance so that he could follow me without my knowing it."

Kyle looked over the crowd from his greater height.

"He's blond," she said to aid his search. "A little shorter, but, um, broader than you."

"I think I see him!" Kyle exclaimed. "Stay here."

Barbara and Matt watched him take off toward the enclosed aviary, but neither saw anyone who looked like Russ. It was nearly a half hour later before Kyle returned.

"Sorry," he said. "I was sure I saw the man you described going into the aviary, but then I lost sight of him. I did a quick walk around every section of this place, but no luck. He probably left the zoo the second he realized a man was after him."

Whether the man Matt saw was Russ or not, their afternoon had been spoiled. Kyle took them to a family-style restaurant for an early dinner; then they headed back to Fredericksburg.

"I hate to end this weekend," he told Barbara after they got home and Matt went to his room. "But I still have a ton of paperwork back in my hotel room that has to get finished before I take off tomorrow."

She made her voice sound cheerful, despite the disappointment his words made her feel. "More sales meetings?"

"Just three days this time. Actually, the road trips are going to be a regular part of my work week, which, had I known I was going to meet you, I wouldn't have agreed to."

"Don't be ridiculous. You wanted this promotion and we can see each other whenever you're here."

"That doesn't sound like much of a consolation at the moment. Look, I don't want to do anything that's going to make Matt feel like his mother's abandoning him, but do you think we could go out alone on Wednesday evening?"

Common sense told her to slow down, put him off until the next weekend, but then his fingers grazed her arm and his eyes reminded her of their hours alone last night. She didn't want to slow down. She wanted more and wondered how she would stand waiting until Wednesday. "If I can arrange for a sitter."

"What about Kenny's mother?"

She shook her head no. "I can't ask for another favor until I reciprocate for this weekend. But I'll check with Tammy. She really seemed to enjoy spending time with Matt and I know he enjoyed being with her."

He smiled and gave her a kiss. "Good idea. I never gave any thought to how single mothers manage a social life."

Saying good night to him was one of the most difficult things she had ever done, when what she really wanted was for him to stay. Nevertheless, her responsibilities as a good mother took priority, as always, and a good mother did not sleep with a man when her child was present, unless that man was her husband.

As she watched Kyle back out of the driveway, she heard the muffled sound of her cell ringing in her purse, which was in her bedroom. By the third ring she heard Matt answer the call so she assumed it was Kenny. When he didn't bring her the phone, she headed for the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Ten minutes later, she was curled up on the couch, sipping her drink and flipping through the television channels, when Matt handed her the phone.

"It's Dani."

Her melancholy mood instantly lifted. With a smile in her voice, she said, "I thought he was talking to a friend of his all this time."

"I
am
a friend of his," Dani declared. "And he had a lot to tell me before I was allowed to talk to you."

"Oh, really? Like what?"

"Like how he has an incredibly beautiful girlfriend named Tammy and Mom met a man that's trying real hard to get Matt to like him."

She laughed aloud, then told her about Tammy, which made Dani laugh along with her.

"And the man?"

She heard the smile leave Dani's voice and wondered just how bad Matt made Kyle out to be. She briefly told Dani how she and Kyle met and had a few dates. "He's very sweet—in fact, he's pretty incredible—but things are happening a little fast for my comfort. I don't want to make the same mistake twice just because I have a weakness for knights in shining armor." Her words sounded as uncertain as she felt and she let out a sigh.

"What's wrong?"

She smiled at her new friend's insight. "Nothing. Everything. I need to be seventeen again and hang out in a tree house for a few weeks with my best friend."

"If you close your eyes and stay very quiet, you can still go there. I do it all the time."

"You had a tree house, too?"

Dani chuckled. "Not exactly. My sister and I had an old parachute draped over some chairs. But I'm sure it worked the same way. Tell me how you feel about him."

Barbara sighed again. "I really do want to be cautious, but when I'm with him, my brain gets all fogged up with hormones. It would be a lot easier if he just wasn't so very, very perfect."

"Sounds a lot more fun than having your head fogged up with fear."

"Hmmph.
The problem is, I've got plenty of that in there too, and I'm experienced enough to know that makes me vulnerable to an offer of being protected from Russ, and the Hamiltons, and all the other bogeymen out there. It's a wonder I can remember my own name this week!"

"Remember when we first talked and I asked you if you'd ever gotten married?"

"Sure. And I told you I hadn't had time to fall in love."

"Maybe that was because no man ever moved fast enough to catch you."

Barbara laughed. "Nobody could accuse Kyle of dragging his feet."

"I haven't met this guy, so I don't want to sound like I'm endorsing a quick marriage to him, but I'd like to pass on something my sister's psychiatrist once told me. There are cases where stalkers continue to harass their victims after they've married another man, but that doctor believed that one of the reasons my sister's attacker had kept after her was that he was convinced that, as long as she didn't legally choose another man, she was still his for the claiming. In other words, had she gotten married to someone else, he might have focused his obsession on an easier target before hurting her."

"Think about it. Men who stalk and terrorize women are bullies. They rarely exhibit that sort of aggression with another man. If the woman takes a husband, she has a male protector, and the stalker is less likely to go up against him to get to her."

"Funny, Kyle said almost the same thing."

"And now that I've said that, let me play the devil's advocate here. Doesn't it seem rather unbelievable that your meeting with Kyle was so very similar to your meeting with Matt's father? And doesn't it also seem awfully strange that after so many years of not being aggressively pursued by men, this one pops into your life right after your picture appears on the front page of every newspaper in the country?

"In just the short amount of time I've spent with you, I can completely understand how someone could quickly fall madly in love with you the way Kyle insists it happened for him. But the timing can't be ignored. I truly hope for your sake that it's all an enormous coincidence, but just in case it's not, I want you to make me a promise."

Barbara knew that Dani had just said aloud what she had been afraid to even think. "Whatever promise you want, you've got it."

"I've been in police work long enough to know that where there's smoke, there's usually fire. And, girl, you've got more smoke around you right now than a five-alarmer. I can't predict when the explosion's going to happen, but I'd bet my longevity bonus that it will. Until then, I want you to promise not to do anything crazy without calling me. Don't run away, don't sell off your kid, don't get married. Nothing. Just keep your eyes open and your guard up."

Chapter 12

Monday morning, Dani's words of warning were still buzzing in Barbara's head, but she kept up a light chatter with Matt to keep him from noticing that anything was bothering her. The moment they stepped outside, however, her efforts proved to be wasted.

A folded sheet of paper was stuck under her windshield wiper.

The second Matt saw it, he grabbed his mother's hand and tugged to keep her from going to the car. "Don't read it, Maw. Let me get it and throw it away."

She forced herself to appear calm and unafraid, for his sake. "It might not be from him. It could be a note from a neighbor or someone selling something." She didn't believe that any more than Matt did. Though she knew whatever Russ had written would upset her, she couldn't ignore it because his messages often gave a clue to his next move.

She felt the awful tremors setting into her limbs as she walked to the car and retrieved the paper.

She knew Matt was watching her face, but she was unable to hide the fact that she recognized Russ's angry scrawl the moment she unfolded the note.

"Let me read it too," Matt said, moving to her side and putting his arms around her waist.