A Most Shocking Revelation Page 8

  “But you couldn’t stay away from it, could you?”

  Gavin glanced Val’s way to find her staring at him. He focused on the fire to avoid her assessment. “Initially I wanted to give it up, so I bought this place and moved here. I intended to ranch, but they needed deputies, so I signed on to do that part-time. A few months later the sheriff decided to retire. He convinced me I needed to replace him, so I threw my name into the hat thinking someone else with more tenure who liked politics would run against me. Didn’t happen, so back in May I became the sheriff of Royal by default, I guess you could say.”

  “You don’t sound that happy about it,” she said.

  She could read him well. Too well. “I’m not unhappy. Just frustrated that I’m knee-deep in serious crime again with the second murder investigation in six months. But I’m going to solve this case. I don’t have a damn bit of tolerance for criminals of any kind.”

  Val folded the hem of her shirt back and forth. “What about crime because of necessity?”

  “I don’t see the necessity in any kind of crime.” His tone was adamant, almost angry. But lawlessness generally pissed him off.

  “Even if someone was, say, stealing food because they had no money?” she asked. “I’ve seen kids who’ve gotten into trouble because they were simply hungry.”

  He’d seen much worse than that. “No excuse. If parents cared more about keeping their kids in line, crime would go down. But then you also have to consider that it’s common for criminals to produce criminals, and that’s a real problem.”

  She stared at him long and hard, a hint of anger in her eyes. “Then you honestly believe it has to do with genetics instead of nurturing?”

  He didn’t like the course of this conversation one whit, but he had to stand his ground. “I think it’s a combination of both. But I’ve seen it too many times, kids who follow in their parents’ footsteps. Fourteen-year-old kids who learn to steal and even some who kill. It makes me sick inside. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be anything that works to stop it.”

  She lifted her chin a notch. “I think you’re wrong about that. I believe people can change if they have the proper guidance.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe so, but I’m jaded because of everything I’ve witnessed as a cop.” Something he wouldn’t wish on anyone, especially Val. “And I don’t expect you to understand because you’re such a good woman.”

  She remained quiet for a long moment before she said, “I’m not perfect, Gavin. I’ve made my share of mistakes.”

  “Haven’t we all?” He took her hand into his. “Whatever mistakes you’ve made—and I doubt they amount to much—don’t matter to me. In fact, I don’t even care to know about them. As far as I’m concerned, no good comes from rehashing the past.”

  She raised her gaze from their joined hands to his eyes. “Then you’re saying you’re wiping my slate clean of all mistakes?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  Her smile arrived slowly, melting the last of his latent anger.

  “You’re pretty tough, Sheriff. But in a way I can understand why you feel the way you do. If I’d lost someone I’d loved in such a horrible way, I’d probably feel the same way, too.”

  He saw sincere understanding in her eyes and he knew he hadn’t been wrong in sharing his past with her. “I’ve never told one soul in Royal about my parents’ deaths, aside from you. I’ve never wanted to tell anyone before you.”

  “And you can trust me not to repeat it,” she said. “But I am surprised you haven’t confided in your friends. They seem trustworthy.”

  “They are, but it’s not something I like to discuss.”

  “Because it still hurts,” she said in a simple statement of fact.

  “I understand.” She sounded as though she truly did.

  “How about we talk about something else?” Anything else would do, as far as Gavin was concerned.

  She stretched her legs out before her. “Okay. I have a question for you. Exactly what do you and your friends talk about in that corner booth at the diner? The way you all huddle together, one might think you’re plotting and planning something.”

  She was definitely close to the truth. Many a member of the Cattleman’s Club, both past and present, had done that very thing in that very booth, or so he’d been told when they’d asked him to join their elite club. But they’d all been sworn to secrecy when it came to their missions. “Basically we shoot the breeze. Talk about our jobs and pastimes, that sort of thing.”

  Val sent him a full-fledged grin that would have knocked the floor out from under his feet if he hadn’t already been sitting on it. “Maybe plotting the seduction of unsuspecting women?”

  “Yeah, that has come up in the past, but not for a while now. All of the guys in the group are presently attached. Except for me.”

  She pulled a throw pillow from the sofa and circled her arms around it. “I still have a hard time believing you haven’t found the right woman.”

  He hadn’t really been looking. Until now. “A lot of women are turned off by the demands of my job, or so I’ve been told.”

  “Your merciless teasing could also be a deterrent.”

  He tugged the pillow from her clutches and tossed it back on the couch. “I reserve that behavior only for you.”

  “Should I be flattered?”

  He pushed her hair away from her shoulders and nuzzled his face in her neck. “Yes, you should definitely be flattered, darlin’.”

  “You’re a class-A scoundrel.”

  He brought his lips to her ear. “I try, sweetheart.”

  “The consummate bad boy.”

  “But I can be real good.”

  “Bi—” She glanced away. “Never mind.”

  “Okay.” Gavin took her earlobe between his teeth, applying only light pressure. When she shivered and sighed, he wrapped an arm around her and asked, “Are you cold, Val?”

  “No.”

  “Neither am I.” He cupped her jaw in his palm. “In fact, I’m downright hot.”

  He proved that to her with a hot kiss, taking her mouth without pause, all the while warning himself to take it easy. But easy wouldn’t adequately describe the way she responded to him, meeting his tongue with sultry strokes that threatened his declining control.

  For a time he was content with just having one arm wrapped around her, his hand tangled in her hair. But that was short-lived when she leaned closer and rested her arm across his belly. He slid his palm up her arm and tugged the baggy shirt down her shoulder to give him better access. Leaving her mouth, he worked his way along her neck, then back up again. He wanted that damn shirt gone. He wanted a lot more than he probably should.

  Good sense told him to back off, but he couldn’t lay claim to any sense at the moment. He made his way back to her mouth, wanting her closer. Needing her closer. With little effort he lifted her onto his lap to straddle his thighs. He broke the kiss to look at her—hair mussed and flowing around her face, eyes hazy. She locked her gaze firmly into his when he slid the shirt off her shoulders and down her arms, leaving her wearing only the tight knit top. He saw no signs of protest in her expression, no fear or hesitation. Against better judgment, he scooted down and bent his knees, sending her directly against his erection. Right now he didn’t care. He wanted to be that close to her even if clothing provided a barrier he preferred to be gone.

  With one hand on her nape, he brought her lips back to his and kissed her while he worked his hands beneath the back of the skimpy tank. No bra as an obstacle, only the smooth texture of bare flesh against his palms. He curled his hands around her sides and moved them up then down. He broke the kiss to watch her face as he grew bolder, using his thumbs to stroke the sides of her breasts.

  She didn’t tell him to stop, didn’t push him away, and that gave him the courage to say, “I need to see you.”

  Gavin pulled his hands from beneath the top and clasped the thin straps. He slid them down slowly,
giving her another chance to stop him, but she didn’t. She did keep her arms at her sides until Gavin lifted them, one at a time, to remove the straps completely. With his gaze firmly locked with hers, he lowered the top to her waist, baring her to his eyes and then to his hands.

  He kept his strokes light, playing her pale pink nipples gently between his thumb and forefingers. Val still hadn’t said a word, but the broken quality of her breathing, the pleasure in her eyes, told Gavin all he needed to know. She was enjoying this, and so was he. But when her hips began to move in an erotic rhythm against his groin, that was just about more than he could stand.

  He braced his hands on her bottom to halt her and, on afterthought, worked her off his lap and laid her back on the rug. After whipping his own shirt over his head and hurling it away, he stretched out partially atop of her. He kissed her again as he rubbed his chest against her breasts, savoring the feel of her against him. A long time had passed since he’d been this close to a woman, feeling her heart beat rapidly against his. But then, a long time had come and gone since he’d wanted to be this close to a woman, other than Val.

  Gavin left her mouth to look at her, seeing what he wanted to see—needed to see—in her expression. Her eyes remained closed but her bottom lip trembled as she shifted beneath him again. He found the pulse at her throat with his mouth and then kissed his way down her throat to the cleft between her breasts. Without hesitation, he drew a nipple into his mouth, using his tongue to caress her, to taste her, even knowing that in a matter of minutes he’d want more than just the foreplay. He’d want it all.

  Before that could happen, he had to know if she wanted it, too. Without any misgivings or possible regrets. He raised his head and looked at her straight on. “Tell me to stop now, Val, before I can’t.”

  Her eyes drifted open and she shook her head. “I don’t want you to stop.”

  He experienced a rush of relief, but he still needed more confirmation. “If we keep going, you’re not going to hate yourself in the morning, are you? You’re not going to hate me?”

  She slid her finger down his jaw. “I’ll never hate you, Gavin. I’m ready for this to happen. I promise.”

  That was all he needed to know. But as he lowered his mouth back to hers, the grating sound of his portable radio echoed in the room.

  “Sheriff O’Neal, highway patrol needs assistance working an MVA on Route 16.”

  Before Valerie could respond with her own aggravated oath, Gavin leaned his forehead against her shoulder and muttered, “Dammit.”

  “Do you copy, Sheriff?”

  He sat up, retrieved the handheld radio from the coffee table and depressed the button. “Yeah, I copy. I’ll be there in ten.”

  After setting the radio down hard, Gavin stared at her, looking more than a little displeased and a whole lot frustrated. But then, so was Valerie. “Obviously I have to go.”

  Valerie grabbed her top and held it against her breasts, thinking fate was having a fine time keeping them apart—and probably with good reason. “Will it take long?”

  He grabbed his shirt and tugged it over his head while she did the same. “I don’t have any idea. Depends on how many cars are involved and the extent of the injuries. Traffic control in these conditions is important, otherwise we could have a major pileup.”

  Valerie couldn’t deny her own disappointment even though she understood why he had to go. Maybe this was some sort of sign, a warning that she should reconsider what she had almost done. What she still wanted to do—make love with him. “I’ll be here when you get back.”

  “And I’ll be back as fast as I can.” Gavin came to his feet. “If I know you’re waiting for me in my bed, that will make doing my job a whole lot easier.”

  “I’ll think about it.” And she would, long and hard.

  He leaned over and gave her another deep kiss, then he was gone out the kitchen door before Valerie had the presence of mind to move. After a time she stood and walked down the hall on weak knees, engaging in a serious mental debate all the way to her designated bedroom.

  She hadn’t been able to tell him the truth once she’d recognized that he couldn’t accept her past in light of his convictions when it came to crime. But he’d said that her mistakes didn’t matter to him. He’d also said he didn’t want to know about them, and maybe that was best. In his eyes, she was only Valerie, a woman worth knowing. A woman he desired. A woman with no past.

  In Gavin’s arms, she hadn’t cared about the pros and cons of getting involved with him. She’d only cared about the way he’d made her feel. She only cared that for once in her life, she’d felt truly free to explore her own sexuality without reservation.

  Pushing all caution aside, she decided to wait in his bed for his return. Wait to enjoy a few stolen moments, a sweet respite from that past, before she left him for good—and hope that someday he would forgive her and understand why she couldn’t tell him. Why she needed him to see her in a good light before he learned about the bad.

  Before she went to his room, she still had one thing left to do. As always, she turned to her nightly writing to sort things out, her hands trembling as she retrieved the journal.

  It’s going to happen between us, regardless of all the reasons it shouldn’t. When Gavin returns, I’m going to be waiting in his bed and I’m going to enjoy every moment of his lovemaking. I’ll file the memories away and bring them out when I’m no longer with him. Right now I can’t even consider being without him, and that is more risky than what I have left to do.

  At 6:00 a.m. Gavin walked through the back door and went straight for his bedroom. Fortunately he’d had a ten-minute drive and cold weather before he’d reached the accident to aid him in his recovery following his interlude with Val. He’d also had the reality of a two-car wreck with multiple injuries to get his mind off her and onto business. Clearing the carnage had taken longer because of the conditions, and luckily no one had been killed.

  On the drive to the accident site he’d remembered what he hadn’t had available in the house—condoms—so the interruption had probably been for the best. And the lone convenience store on the way back to the ranch didn’t open until seven, so he would just have to wait until later to prepare. Another intrusion directly resulting from his job. But come hell or more highway mishaps, he was going to make love to her tonight, even if he had to toss his radio down the old well out back.

  Even if he couldn’t have her this morning, he was still curious to see if Val had followed his instructions. When he reached his room, he found her there, curled on her side away from him, the bedcovers bunched at her feet as if she’d been restless most of the night. He could definitely relate to that, especially now when he saw she still wore the same too-big shirt and nothing else aside from a pair of sheer white panties. He had a bird’s-eye view of her bottom, and, although he was dog tired and needed some sleep before he had to go into the office in a few hours, his body came back to life at the sight.

  Caution crept in, sending Gavin to the bed, where he tugged the sheet over Val, then made his way to the opposite side. He could go to one of the guest rooms or to the couch or he could stay strong, stay in control and climb in beside her. After all, he didn’t have to touch her. He just had to develop an iron will.

  With that thought, he tugged off his T-shirt and pulled off his boots and socks but left his jeans on. Stripping down to his briefs might prove to be too tempting, even if his pants were more than a little tight at the moment. As quietly as he could, he slipped into the bed and stretched out on his back, remaining on top of the covers. He glanced at Val, relieved that he hadn’t woken her, because if she made one move toward him, he might forget about sleep and the reasons why they couldn’t finish what they’d started last night.

  He laid one arm behind his neck, rested his other across his bare abdomen and closed his eyes. For almost an hour he counted the ticks of the clock and cursed the dawn’s light streaming through the window. He went over a mental to-do li
st and added a call to the Dallas crime lab to request return of the evidence from the Durmorr murder. He stiffened like a stubborn mesquite tree—every inch of him—when he felt the mattress dip beside him.

  Opening his eyes, he sent another glance at Val, discovering she’d turned over, her gaze trained on his face. “When did you get in?” she asked in a sexy morning voice.

  “A while ago.”

  “Why didn’t you wake me?”

  Because that would have been a bad move. “I decided you needed your sleep, and so do I.”

  “Oh.”

  He hated the hint of insecurity in her voice and hated even more that he’d put it there. “I also knew that if I woke you, I’d want to take up where we left off last night. But since I realized I threw out my last condoms last week, I figured that probably wasn’t a great idea.”

  She rose up on one bent elbow and supported her cheek with her palm. “Any particular reason why you threw out the condoms?”

  “They were out of date.” A really sad commentary on his life.

  “I plan to pick some up today as soon as the drugstore opens, unless you tell me we don’t need them.”

  “Unfortunately we do need them. I’m not on any kind of birth control.”

  That figured. Against better judgment, he slid his arm beneath her and pulled her close to his side. “Now let’s both try to get some sleep, although I’m not sure that I can. I’m pretty keyed up right now.”

  She snuggled closer to him. “Was it a bad wreck?”

  The wreck was only one reason for his current state. Having her so near was the other. “Yeah. A kid got in a hurry trying to make his curfew and took out a car. They both ended up in the culvert.”

  “They’re okay, right?”

  “They’re alive, although the driver of the car was hurt pretty badly.”

  “How old is the boy?”

  “Almost seventeen, and I’ve had trouble with him before. He has a souped-up truck and he’s been caught speeding. He better hope the man he rammed is all right, otherwise he might be going to jail.”