White Dove's Promise (7 page)

“I work at Liberty National Bank. In the note department.”

Since Jared didn't use that particular bank, the chances of his seeing Kerry around town before the incident with Peggy would have been slim. Especially when he figured she didn't do much socializing.

“Do you like your job or is it just a stepping stone to what you'd really like to do?”

Since Peggy had been born, no one had bothered to ask Kerry that question. Not even her own mother. Enola's attitude was that Kerry should be grateful to have any sort of job in order to support her young daughter. The idea that Jared cared enough to ask made her feel special, something she'd not felt in a long time.

“I like the job. Everyone there is easy to work with and the pay is okay. But it's not what I want to do for the rest of my life.”

When she didn't elaborate, he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “I feel like a dentist trying to pull a tooth with the patient's mouth clamped shut,” he joked, then made a rolling motion with one hand. “Come on, what is the thing you'd want to be doing if you could?”

Her finger slowly traced the plaid pattern in the tablecloth as she thought about all the hopes and dreams she'd pushed aside in order to raise her daughter. Some people might view the choices she'd made
as sacrifices. But Kerry didn't see them that way. Peggy was worth much, much more than anything she'd had to give up.

“I need a few more hours to acquire my master's degree in business. Someday when that happens I'd like to get a job with a small investment firm and work my way up to a high-level position.” She cast him a rueful smile. “But that will be in the far future—when Peggy is much older.”

Jared didn't have to ask what had delayed her education. She'd had a baby. And she'd gone straight to work to support her. He desperately wanted to ask her about the father and why they weren't together now. But he instinctively knew that Kerry didn't feel comfortable enough to tell him something that personal. More than likely she'd be offended if he asked. But he was going to get closer to her, he promised himself. And soon.

Anxious now to break the cozy atmosphere that seemed to be curling around them and drawing them together, Kerry quickly rose from her seat. “I really should be going. It would be embarrassing if Mom called your brother Bram out to search for me.”

Rising to his feet, he grinned at her. “Why Kerry, I didn't realize you could actually joke.”

She tried to prevent her lips from tilting upward, but a smile spread across her face anyway. “I can laugh, too. Sometimes,” she tossed back at him as she headed out of the kitchen.

Jared followed close on her heels and appreciated the chance to watch the gentle sway of her hips as she walked. The faint sultry scent of her perfume drifted back to him like the luring curl of a finger. Her body would be soft, he thought. Soft and warm and womanly
and the urge to reach out and touch her was so strong he jammed his hands into his trouser pockets.

When they reached the living room, Jared said, “I'll carry Peggy out to the car for you.”

Kerry grabbed her handbag and preceded him out to the car where he placed the sleeping child on the back seat.

“We need to buckle her up somehow,” he said in a hushed voice so as not to wake her. “I didn't save this little darlin' from a dark hole to have her hurt in a car accident.”

As Kerry watched his fingers smooth Peggy's long hair and ruffled dress, her heart turned as soft as warm butter. Jared might not know what it was like to have a child of his own, yet he treated Peggy with as much love and tenderness as any father would.

All at once Kerry realized her head was hovering very near to Jared's. With the slightest turn, their faces would be together, their lips separated by only a scant distance. Just the thought of kissing Jared Colton sent a thrill of heat rushing from her head to her toes.

The decadent thoughts turned her voice to a throaty whisper. “I've buckled her up like this before. And I'll drive slowly on the way home.”

Thankfully he eased back out of the car and Kerry was able to breathe normally again, but her nervous hands fumbled with the seat belt straps before she was finally able to get them completely fastened.

Once she had Peggy safely settled, Kerry hurried around to the driver's side of the car. Jared followed and opened the door before she could do it herself.

“This has been nice, Kerry. I'm glad you agreed to come out tonight.”

His low, masculine voice was as smooth as the warm
night breeze slipping over her bare skin. Her heart thudding, Kerry tucked her hair behind her ears and glanced his way. “Thank you, Jared. It has been nice.”

Before he could stop himself, Jared stepped closer and gently folded his fingers around her upper arm. “Uh—when are we going to get together again?”

Eyes wide, she stared up at him. Maybe in the back of her mind, she'd suspected he was slightly attracted to her. But she'd assured herself he would never act upon his attraction. Not when he could find more beautiful, willing women elsewhere.

“I—don't think that would be a good idea,” she finally managed to murmur.

A scowl pulled his black brows together. “Why not? Is there someone you're seeing on a regular basis?”

Kerry had lived such an isolated life since her ordeal with Damon that his question seemed ludicrous. Averting her gaze from his, she released a shaky laugh. “No.”

Jared continued to frown as he studied her lowered head. “Is there something funny about that question?”

Kerry lifted her eyes back to his and suddenly she felt overwhelmed with emptiness. Damon had not only shattered her hopes and dreams of having a family, he'd also filled her with a deep distrust of men. In the past three, nearly four years, she'd not met one man she'd felt comfortable enough to share a hamburger with, much less date on a continued basis. Yet as she looked at Jared, she desperately wished that things could be different.

“Not exactly,” she answered, then tried her best to smile. The last thing she wanted Jared Colton to think was that she was limping around with hidden scars. “I just—don't date.”

Jared had suspected she didn't have much of a social life. At least not with the opposite sex. But to hear her say she didn't date at all was a real tragedy.

“Oh come on, Kerry, you're kidding, aren't you?”

Her lips thinned to a grim line. “No. I'm not kidding.”

He looked totally perplexed. “But why?”

Why? Was he blind, she wondered. Wasn't Peggy's existence enough explanation for him? “That's something I don't want to get into.” Especially with you, she silently added.

Jared could see her expression closing him off, and the separation left him with a sudden emptiness. “Okay,” he said with slow deliberation. “You don't have to get into your reasons right now. But I might as well warn you that I won't take no for an answer.”

His remark made Kerry even more aware of his warm fingers pressing into her flesh. For one reckless moment, she considered tossing her fears aside and simply stepping into his arms. Somehow she knew that to kiss this man would be a wild, sweet pleasure. To make love to him would bend her mind and make her forget everything. Until it was over and he was gone.

That cool thought of sanity was the only thing that gave her the strength to pull away from him and slip into the driver's seat.

With her hands gripping the wheel, she said, “And I might as well warn you that you're wasting your time. I have a child and a job that requires all my focus. I don't have any space in my life for men.”

To Kerry's surprise he gave her a broad grin.

“That's good to hear, 'cause I only want you to make room for one man. Me.”

Kerry wasn't prepared to deal with this sudden in
timate exchange. She'd expected after tonight their time together would end once and for all. And it had to, she thought desperately. Jared Colton was the last man who could fit into her life.

Her hands shaking, she shut the door and quickly started the engine. “Goodbye, Jared.”

He reached through the window and laid a hand on her shoulder. “You'd better buckle up before you drive away,” he said dryly.

Flustered from his touch and the fact that she was letting him get to her, she snatched up the belt and fumbled with the two ends until they snapped together.

“That's better,” he said smugly. Then pulling his hand from her shoulder, he tapped the door in a gesture of farewell. “See you later, Kerry.”

Even though she'd already pulled the gearshift into Reverse, she pressed on the brake and looked through the window at him. “Jared, I expect you to respect my wishes.”

His brows lifted with flirty innocence and he bent his head toward the open window. “And what are your wishes?” he asked softly.

Kerry silently groaned. No man should be allowed to be this sexy or tempting, she thought desperately. It wasn't fair to womankind. “That you not try to see me again. For any reason.”

A twisted grin lifted one corner of his mouth. “We both know you don't really wish that, Kerry.”

Kerry was all set to argue, but Jared didn't give her the chance. Before she could make any sort of response, he waved goodbye and stepped back from the car.

Grateful for the chance to escape, she stepped on the
gas and wheeled the car around. As she drove away, her eyes longed to find him in the rearview mirror. But she refused to look up or to acknowledge that Jared Colton had left her shaking from her head to her toes.

T
he newspaper landed with a plop on the keyboard of Kerry's computer. Frowning at the interruption, she looked up from the screen to see Christa's grinning face.

“What's up?” Kerry asked. “Have you already run out of something to do?”

Giggling, Christa glanced over her shoulder to make sure none of the bosses were nearby. “Actually my desk is loaded with work, but I just had to see if you'd had a chance to look at the paper yet.”

Her face blank, Kerry shook her head. “The paper?”

“Kerry!” Christa practically shouted. “Have you forgotten? You and the town's new hero!”

Dear Lord, since she'd left Jared's house last night all she'd been able to think about was him. The newspaper article had totally slipped her mind.

Snatching up the paper she began to flip through the pages.

“Try the front page,” Christa said smugly. “Lower left-hand corner. It's hard to miss.”

Kerry flopped the paper back over then gasped as her gaze zeroed in on the photo. Just as she'd feared last night, the image was more like a snapshot at a family reunion.

“Oh, this is—” she paused and miserably shook her head. “What was that reporter thinking? The three of us look like we're posed for a family Christmas card!”

“You do look right at home with each other,” Christa said with another giggle. “So tell me, what was it like being that close to Jared Colton?”

Kerry glowered at the other woman. “What sort of question is that?”

Christa tossed another covert glance behind her just to make sure the two of them weren't being observed. “Oh come on, Kerry. I know you don't go out on dates. But that doesn't mean you're totally dead. Jared Colton is a real hunk. Surely your heart was doing some sort of tap dance while the two of you were rubbing shoulders.”

Her heart had been dancing all right, Kerry silently admitted. But she'd done her best to ignore the affliction. And she was going to keep right on ignoring the strange feelings she got every time she thought about the man.

“He is a handsome man, Christa,” Kerry said firmly. “But that doesn't mean anything to me.”

Christa leaned over the front of the desk and picked up Kerry's wrist. “Better let me take your pulse, lady. You're definitely not normal.”

Kerry shook her hand away from Christa's fingers,
then shoved the newspaper under a stack of banking forms. “Look Christa, the reason you don't think I'm normal is because my common sense is much stronger than my libido.”

The blonde slapped a hand across her forehead and lifted her eyes toward the ceiling. “Okay, I admit my marriage was a disaster and, like you, I picked a guy that couldn't have been worse for me. But that doesn't mean I've stopped being a woman. And—” she lowered her head and leveled a pointed look on Kerry “—you haven't stopped being one either.”

Kerry knew if she protested too loudly here it would only make Christa suspicious and the last thing she wanted was for anyone to think there was something going on between her and Jared.

Sighing, she said, “All right. I admit I still think about men. I even wish I could find a perfect father for Peggy. But that doesn't mean I let a handsome face and sexy body turn my head. Most anyone in this town would agree that Jared Colton is a confirmed bachelor. He's not the sort of man a serious woman would look at twice. Unless she wanted her heart broken.”

“Hmm. You could be right. But he looked right at home in that picture.”

Kerry laughed. “That's because he was home, Christa. Now get out of here and let me get back to work. I promised Clarence to have these papers finished before noon and at this rate it will be noon tomorrow.”

Christa made a tsking noise of disapproval as she started toward the door. “All work and no play. When do you ever have any fun, Kerry?”

Kerry was still thinking about that question long after Christa had disappeared from sight.

 

When Kerry arrived home that evening after work, two neighbors were on the front porch with Enola. The sight of the women made Kerry groan with dread. She'd already spent most of the day discussing the newspaper article. Now that she was home, she didn't want to have to go over it again. But both women appeared to be comfortably glued to their lawn chairs as they waited for her to climb out of the car.

“Kerry! We're so glad you got home before we left. We want to know what it's like to be a town celebrity.”

The remark came from Helen, a large, gray-haired woman who'd raised three sons close to Kerry's age.

“I'm not really a celebrity, Helen,” she said with a weary smile. “The only reason my picture is in the paper is because I'm Peggy's mother.”

Alice, a small woman with dark hair, quickly spoke up, “Oh, you're being modest, honey. All three of you are celebrities now. Everyone in Black Arrow is talking about this.” She tapped a red fingernail against the paper in her lap.

“That's right,” Helen put in. “Just about everyone is saying what a lucky thing that Jared Colton was back in town when Peggy got trapped. That young man is a real hero. If it hadn't been for him—well, I'd hate to think what would have happened to little Peggy.”

“And it sure doesn't hurt that he's as cute as a bug in a rug,” Alice added with a wink. “I wouldn't mind getting my picture taken with him. Not at all.”

“Do you know if he's back in town to stay?” Helen asked.

Did these women really think she would know something that personal about Jared Colton? Kerry wondered. Just because he'd plucked her daughter from the
jaws of the earth, didn't mean there was any sort of intimacy between them.

“I wouldn't know,” Kerry said dully. “But I seriously doubt it. Jared follows his job.”

Alice sighed as though she was thirty years younger and still in the market for a man. “Well, the way he has his arm around you in this picture, I'd say he'd rather be following you.”

A few feet away in another lawn chair, Enola cleared her throat. “Kerry, you'd probably better go check on Peggy. It's about time she woke from her nap.”

Kerry knew exactly why her mother was interrupting. Just the thought of anyone linking her daughter to Jared in a romantic way was enough to send Enola into spasms. And normally Kerry would have resented her interference. But not this time. Thoughts of Jared had tormented her all day. She needed an escape.

“Sure, Mom,” Kerry said, then quickly excused herself to the two women.

Inside the house, she went straight to the bedroom she shared with her daughter. Peggy was still asleep, her face buried in the faded patchwork quilt covering the bed. Not wanting to disturb her, Kerry quietly changed from her office clothes into shorts and a T-shirt, then slipped out of the room.

She was in the kitchen, making herself a glass of iced tea when the telephone rang. For a moment, she considered not answering. She'd heard all she wanted to hear about Jared Colton's heroism. Yet she knew if she ignored the ringing, Enola would hear it and come to answer the phone herself.

With a weary sigh, Kerry carried her glass over to the wall phone which was situated at one end of the cabinets.

“Hello.”

“Kerry, it's Jared.”

The deep voice momentarily stunned her. He was the last person she'd expected to be hearing from today. Especially after she'd made an issue of not wanting to see him again.

“Jared—why are you calling?”

“I wanted to see what you thought about our article.”

She didn't bother to stifle her groan. “Not you, too.”

Jared chuckled. “I take it you've been getting a lot of response over it.”

“I could hardly work with all the people stopping by my office and calling on the telephone. There's two neighbors out on the porch right now who are probably still singing your praises to Mom.”

He chuckled again. “Oh, I don't expect that's going over too well.”

“No. But they're old friends. After a while she'll tell them to shut up. Especially Alice. She thinks you're as cute as a bug in a rug.”

“I'm not really worried about what Alice thinks. I'd like to know what Kerry thinks.”

One hand gripped the receiver while the other tightened its hold on the icy glass of tea. “I think I should have never agreed to that interview last night. Now people are starting to think that we—well, I'm not sure all of them are reading the article. I think most of them are just looking at the three of us hugged up together like mama bear, daddy bear and baby bear.”

Jared's loud laughter sounded in her ear. “Kerry, I really don't know how you can be so funny when every bone in your body is the serious kind.”

She swallowed down a few sips of tea in an effort
to loosen the ball of nerves in her throat. “Look, Jared, I told you last night—”

“Please don't go into that again. I remember everything you told me. And I have no intentions of letting that stop me from trying to see you again. So what about having dinner with me? Tonight?”

Jared Colton was asking her out on a bona fide date. Kerry couldn't deny that she was thrilled he found her attractive. After all, there wasn't a woman on earth who didn't want to be desired by a man. Yet the part of her that Damon had crushed was very afraid.

She breathed in a deep bracing breath. “Don't you ever work?”

Once again his soft laughter met her ear. The sound was so seductive, it was all she could do to keep from shivering.

“I'm working now, Kerry. If you walked out to the open field behind your house and looked toward the site, you could see me standing beside my pickup truck.”

“Well, then keep working and forget about having dinner with me,” she said as sternly as she could.

“I have to eat and so do you.”

“I already had Peggy out late last night. I'm not about to take her out two nights in a row.”

“I wasn't planning on taking Peggy with us.”

Even though she wasn't looking at him, she could easily envision his gray eyes glinting sexily back at her.

“You're crazy if you think I'd go without Peggy.”

“That's easy to fix. We'll take Peggy with us.”

She rolled her eyes. “No. We have nothing in common, Jared. And you've already said yourself that you'll be leaving once your job is finished.”

His sigh was full of frustration. “Kerry, this isn't a
marriage proposal. I'm just asking you to have a meal with me. As two friends. Nothing more.”

“Why would you want to do that?” she asked suspiciously.

There was a long pause, then he said, “I'm not sure what that question means.”

Expecting her mother to walk into the room at any moment, Kerry moved as far as the coiled cord would allow in order to peer through the straight shot of rooms to the front of the house. Through the open screen door, she could see Alice's crossed legs. Apparently the two neighbors were keeping Enola occupied.

In a hushed voice, she said, “Jared, I'm not stupid. You don't need to bother yourself with me just to have female company.”

He clicked his tongue with disapproval. “Kerry, you don't believe all those old rumors you've heard about me, do you?”

“Yes.”

He laughed. “Then you have to give me a chance to plead my case. And Kerry, just so you understand, I want your company. Not just female company.”

How could she resist him when the hungry, lonely part of her heart was begging her to reach out to him.

“Like I said, I won't take Peggy out again tonight.”

“Then tomorrow night?”

Her heart began to hammer at what she was about to do. “All right. Tomorrow night.”

“Good. I'll pick you up at six-thirty,” he said with undisguised pleasure. “And Kerry, it doesn't matter what you wear, just so you're wearing a smile.”

“Goodbye, Jared. I'll see you tomorrow evening.”

 

Early the next morning, Jared was using a laser instrument to shoot the correct angle of the new pipeline his crew was laying when he heard one of the workmen yell that the high sheriff had arrived.

Handing the laser tool to his foreman, he said, “Take over, Mitch, and make sure you keep Harv digging at the right level. I'll be back in a few minutes.”

Jared climbed out of the ditch and walked over to where Bram had parked his pickup truck in an out-of-the-way spot at the edge of the work site.

“What's up?” he called to his brother.

The lazy smile on Bram's face as he climbed out of the vehicle quickly assured Jared that the sheriff's early visit had nothing to do with an emergency.

“I've been sent on a mission,” Bram said.

Jared casually propped his boot on the pickup bumper. “Well, from the way you're grinning it must not be a dangerous one.”

Bram chuckled. “I don't know yet. Depends on whether you want to be stubborn about this.”

Jared's brows lifted in surprise. “Me? What do I have to do with anything?”

Bram slanted him a mocking look. “Oh come on, Jared. You're Black Arrow's newest hero. And the mayor has sent me out here to fetch you to his office. He wants to present you with a key to the city. And I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he and the city council vote to change the name of Main Street to Jared Colton Boulevard,” he added dryly.

Willow had already warned Jared that the mayor had been trying to contact him. But he still found it hard to believe that a city politician wanted anything to do with him. For the past ten years Jared had spent most
of his time away from Black Arrow and before then he'd never been a civic-minded citizen. He'd mostly been a hell-raiser and womanizer. The idea that the mayor, or anyone else for that matter, saw him in a heroic light was almost laughable.

Shaking his head with disbelief, Jared said, “Don't tell me the press is going to be there.”