Chapter 4
“And this is where you and Julie will be staying,” said Marianne, opening the door to a single bedroom with a queen size bed and its own bathroom. Julie’s cheeks heated as she thought about sharing that bed with Hank.
Hank spoke in a low voice. “Ma, I told you it’s not like that.”
“I understand that, dear. But this is Kelly’s wedding weekend and we have a full house.
I had to do some rearranging to get you a room at all.
Gwen has to sleep in the office with cousin Josie on the last air mattress.
This,” she said, gesturing to the red and gold guest room, “is the best I can do. There are clean towels in the bathroom closet and an extra blanket in the chest,” she said firmly, walking away.
“I’m sorry,” Hank said to Julie. “I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“Damn straight, you will.”
“Come on. I’ll introduce you around.”
Julie looked around the room, wishing she could barricade herself within it. “Do you have to?”
He looked at her quizzically. “What’s wrong?”
“What if someone asks how we met, or something else I don’t have an answer for?”
“Lie.”
“I’m a terrible liar.”
“Well, then, this should be good practice for you.” He steered her toward the stairs, almost running into his sister.
“There you are. Ron and I would like to say a few words before everyone heads out,” she said, gesturing downstairs. The rehearsal dinner ended shortly before Hank and Julie arrived, and close members of the family were still congregated at the house.
Julie begrudgingly followed Hank down the stairs, and took her place next to him in the entranceway between the foyer and living room.
Kelly and Ron made a striking couple. She was petite, with the same honeyed skin as her brother and dark hair that fell in lustrous waves down her back.
Ron was much taller and quite muscular, like a model or fitness trainer.
His head was completely bald and shiny, his kind and handsome face suggesting he might have been a blonde or a redhead at one time.
“We want each of you to know what it means to us that you’re here to share in our wedding. I wasn’t sure this day would ever come,” she said, garnering a laugh from those who knew the couple well, “and well, we just wanted to say thank you.”
“Mom,” she continued, “we owe you a special thanks.” To the room, she said, “When the caterer double-booked and cancelled on us last week, my mother stepped up and offered to do the cooking herself.” Gasps could be heard around the room.
“We couldn’t do this without you, Mom.” Claps and a few cheers followed.
“And to my brother, Hank, who will be walking me down the aisle tomorrow,” she paused and bit her lip to keep the tears that threatened in check, “I am so very glad you were able to make it. There’s only one person I’d rather have at my side, and I’m sure he is smiling down from heaven at the thought that you will stand in his place. ”
Ron put his arm around his fiancé and raised his glass in Hank’s direction.
Julie felt a knot in her throat at the sense of loss these people so obviously shared, on the eve of such celebration.
It occurred to her that Hank had missed the rehearsal dinner because he was helping her at the farmhouse.
Would he have missed the entire wedding if she had still needed him in Vermont?
Lois Lane was one lucky woman.
Hank looked up at that moment. Their gazes met and locked, sharing a moment of intimate appraisal. Everything about this man attracted her, and she felt a tingling sensation in her abdomen. Hank’s eyes dropped to her lips, and she knew he wanted to kiss her.
She flashed back to the barn and how she’d wanted to kiss him, her cheeks heating at the memory. The realization that she wanted him even more now set her into a small panic.
Forget about Superman. He isn’t even trustworthy.
She broke eye contact and took a step away.
Kelly and Ron finished their remarks, and Julie turned on her heel and walked away from Hank. She’d rather face a hundred and one people who thought she was in love with him than face the man himself.
She spent forty-five minutes in the kitchen, listening to his great aunt Phoebe describe her trip to Paris, then ten more talking to Ron, who got her a beer. Feeling pleasantly relaxed from the drink, she slipped up the stairs to turn in for the night.
Hank caught up to her just outside the bedroom door, turning her around by touching her shoulder.
“Do you know that everyone in that room thinks we’re fighting?”
Julie bristled at his tone.
“I may be sleeping on the floor,” he continued, “but there’s no need for the whole world to know it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I was only kidding. You can sleep with me.”
“What?” His pupils dilated and he leaned toward her.
“In fact,” she said, looking up at him through her lashes, “I’m kind of tired.”
“Hey, Hank,” said a voice just behind him. He turned and saw Kelly’s fiancé. “I’m going to get heading home. I’m glad you were able to make it,” said Ron as he shook Hank’s hand. “It means a lot to Kelly, and to me.”
“Couldn’t have kept me away if you’d tried,” he said, smiling at the other man. “Ron, did you meet my girlfriend, Julie?”
“Yes, downstairs,” said Ron.
Julie smirked, leaning on the door jamb. “Ron was telling me how he and Kelly met.”
“Now, don’t go telling on me before the ceremony. I’ve almost made it without being discovered.” Ron chuckled, a goofy grin on his face. “I’m going to head home. I’ll see you both at the church tomorrow. Sorry if I interrupted anything,” he said with a wink, then walked away.
Hank rounded on Julie. “He did interrupt something, didn’t he?”
Julie’s eyes went wide. She made certain Ron was out of earshot before she whispered, “I was just pretending.”
He moved into her personal space, his eyes smoldering and purposeful.
She took a step backward into the bedroom and watched as he advanced on her by equal measure, closing the door quietly behind him.
“Were you pretending in the barn?”
“The barn?” she asked, continuing her backward retreat. She stopped when the back of her legs hit the bed.
The bed!
Her lungs sucked in air as her pulse hammered away.
“You do remember the barn. I can see it all over your face.” he bent his head purposefully, his hand reaching for the back of her neck.
Julie wanted it so badly. She wanted this strong, sexy man to kiss her like mad, to take possession of her body and make her forget everything else, but a nagging voice wailed in her head.
Her life was a complete disaster. She just lost her father.
She was being hunted by a crazy ex-boyfriend or her father’s killer, maybe both.
You don’t find love in the middle of all that.
You find men who prey on women who don’t have their shit together.
The thought had her pushing him away. “Whoa, hold on a minute. I was just putting on a show for your new brother-in-law,” she said, standing taller and squaring her shoulders.
“He’s not my brother-in-law until tomorrow,” He corrected her, staring at her full breasts, then back to her lips.
“I’m going to take a shower,” she said, sidestepping to get past Hank’s wide shoulders.
Walking to the dresser, she began digging in her overnight bag for her pajamas, flustered when she couldn’t find what she wanted.
Feeling like an idiot, she picked up the whole bag, went in the bathroom, and locked the door.
She sank down onto the toilet seat, clutching her bag, and breathed deeply as she closed her eyes.
Sadness and fatigue surrounded her in a drenching wave.
She was enjoying the sexual banter with Hank, then suddenly she saw herself as he must see her—a grieving, messed up woman with nowhere to go and just a handful of people who loved her.
Hank wasn’t interested in her awesome personality.
He was a Navy officer who just happened to be sharing her bedroom tonight, and figured he may as well get lucky.
Kill two birds with one stone. She knew his type well and had little respect for them.
The familiar uniform just added insult to injury, pointing out what she should never have forgotten.
Hank Jared was not someone she could trust.
Julie stood and turned the hot water on full force as she began to undress.
She resented the fact that she was stuck here, pretending to be someone she wasn’t just to stay one step ahead of a nameless, faceless enemy.
As the water sluiced over her skin, she shivered in spite of the heat.
Her mind was full of images—a burned out hotel room, the window seat at Gwen’s house, a rusty red generator and footprints in the snow.
She thought of the message from the safe deposit box as she let the water run down her bent head and shoulders.
Her quick cryptanalysis in the car had begun to awaken memories of processes long since forgotten.
She knew and understood every class of cipher ever popularized, from simple substitution and Masonics to the latest in computer generated random keys and transport layer security.
Her mind played the options like notes on a score, trying different combinations and looking for patterns that would confirm or deny their collusion.
Grabbing a bar of sweet-smelling soap, she began to wash away the experience of the day while her mind raced through secret codes and memories.
Something was bothering her about the message, interfering with her thoughts like a car parked in the middle of a freeway.
There was a familiarity about the cipher that eluded her, ringing the faintest of bells in her jangled memory.
Frustrated with herself, she tried to stop focusing on it, hoping it would gather itself together in her subconscious and emerge as a coherent whole if she left it alone.