Another Man's Children

Zach was right behind her, his footfall unhurried, deliberate. The hair on her neck prickled with the feel of his eyes boring into the back of her head.

She had no idea how badly she was shaking until she reached for the hammered iron latch—and felt Zach’s hand close over her fingers.

The hard wall of his chest brushed her shoulder. With his broad palm covering the back of her hand, his heat searing a path up her arm, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he could feel her trembling.

“I have my reasons for grounding your brother,” he growled, his breath fluttering the fine hair at the top of her head. “And you don’t know me. You don’t know me at all.”

Moving her hand, he reached for the latch himself.

“I’ll wait for your brother outside.”

She had taken a step back the moment he’d let her go. As she took another, desperate for the distance, her glance darted up and caught on the silvery and striated scar that covered the entire side of his neck.

The disfiguring injury hadn’t been noticeable to her at all when he’d faced her. From the side, it was impossible to miss. The pale, slick-looking skin ran from under his jaw to below the buttoned collar of his shirt and behind the length of his thick dark hair.

The thought that only chemicals or fire could cause scarring so severe had her wincing when he pulled open the door. Catching her expression, his own went as cool as the air that rushed inside before he sidestepped the startled woman backing up so he could pass.

The muffled “Hi” he offered the lady sounded impossibly civil.

“Hi, yourself,” the waiflike woman replied to his retreating back. Pushing off the hood of her beautifully woven turquoise cape, she watched him take the stairs from the log-railed porch in two strides and jog through the rain to the black truck parked by her pea-green Volkswagen bus.

The nerves in Lauren’s stomach were quivering as she forced her attention from the man who still had her caller staring after him.

“Ms. Adams?”

The woman turned with an inquisitive smile. Her long straight hair was parted in the middle, six inches of gray at the roots and dishwater-blond at the ends. A peace symbol, which Lauren assumed to be an antique, hung around her neck.

“It’s Shenandoah. Like the river,” she explained, her smile fading to skepticism as she eyed Lauren’s suit and heels.

The unexpected had just collided with the unforeseen. Taking a stabilizing breath, Lauren smiled politely and asked her to come in.

From behind the wheel of his truck, Zach watched Sam’s sister give him a cautious glance before she ushered the aging flower child inside. She looked as wary of him as Tina had of the bear he and Sam had found foraging in her garden last summer. Sam’s wife had never much cared for the local wildlife.

It was as obvious as the rain beating on his windshield that Sam’s sister felt pretty much the same about him.

They were even. He wasn’t crazy about her, either.

Blowing a breath, he dragged his hand over his face and sank back in the seat. He couldn’t believe how frustrated he felt. Or how he’d just acted with Sam’s little sister. The frustration he could deal with. Lauren Edwards was another matter entirely. With a schedule that was falling further behind by the hour and more worried than he was used to being about the partner he couldn’t count on for much of anything right now, he had no patience at all for her judgmental attitude.

Or her presence.

He knew Sam’s family wanted him to move back to Seattle. His mother had mentioned it a half a dozen times while she’d been there. Sam had said his mom had even asked if he wanted her to pack some of his things and take them back with her. His sister, Sam had also told him, had offered to find him a place in the city if he didn’t feel like looking himself.

Zach knew Sam understood his family’s concerns about him. But Sam had also confided that he had no idea what he wanted to do, and that the last thing he did want right now was to have to make a major decision. Any decision for that matter. Just getting out of bed in the morning was hard enough.

Zach was infinitely familiar with the numb, almost paralyzed state the mind slipped into to protect itself from feeling too much. He also knew that his friend would have to deal with his family and the changes that were taking place in his life whether he liked the idea or not.

Sam’s sister’s insistence to the contrary, he truly was trying to help her brother. In the meantime, he was having to deal with the ripple effects of Tina’s death himself. That loss affected nearly everything he’d managed to build over the past five years.

With the grim determination that had always served him well, he reminded himself that change was inevitable—and that the Fates hadn’t broken him yet.

It did seem, though, that they wanted to give it another shot. It was entirely possible that his friend could move for the sake of his children. If he did, Zach would lose his business partner.

More disturbing than that, he would lose the closest thing he had here to family.

The thoughts did nothing to ease the tension crawling through him. He needed to move, to pace, but he had no desire to get out of the truck and get drenched. Instead, he worked at a knot in his shoulder and checked the rearview mirror for signs of Sam.

Seeing nothing but the silver drizzle that turned the forest of spruce, hemlock and pine a hazy shade of blue, he glanced toward the rambling log cabin with its wraparound porch and winter-bare window boxes.

There was something more bothering him. Something about Sam’s little sister that added a different sort of frustration to those he was already dealing with.

She had been judgmental. And she clearly hadn’t a clue why her brother’s behavior demanded that he be relieved of certain responsibilities. But those weren’t the only things about her that set him on edge.

She was undeniably attractive. Beautiful, he conceded, recalling the cameo-like delicacy of her face. There was also a polished look about her that screamed high-maintenance. Pretty to look at. Cold to hold. Still, there’d been no mistaking the heat that had jolted through him when he’d met her clear blue eyes, or when he breathed in the fresh, springlike scent clinging to her sun-shot hair. Her skin had felt like satin to him, soft, warm, and before he’d pulled back his hand, he could have sworn she was trembling.

He’d also caught the way she’d flinched when she’d noticed his neck.

He was accustomed to the reaction by now, though some people were less obvious about it than others. What was visible, though, was nothing compared to what wasn’t—which was one of the reasons it had been longer than he cared to remember since he’d held a woman, and why he devoted more hours than he could count to running along the windswept beach below his house, and to rebuilding an old fighter plane that was as battered and scarred as he was.

He dealt with his frustrations as best he could and didn’t look for anything more than he already had. He didn’t want anything in his life that would change the status quo. He’d finally found a degree of contentment living and working in this wildly beautiful place, and that fragile peace was already feeling threatened enough.

The deep-throated hum of a Chevy Suburban had him jerking around in his seat.

Jamming down all of his frustrations for the sake of his friend, he plastered on as affable a smile as he could manage and climbed out into the rain.

Chapter Two

Zach knew that Sam didn’t usually pick up Jason from preschool. At three o’clock in the afternoon, he was usually either on a flight or tackling his end of running the business. Since business was slower in the winter when they didn’t have the summer tourists and adventurers to transport, Sam taking off early to get his son hadn’t been a problem. Not for Zach. But as he watched his partner climb from his red Suburban and acknowledge him with the lethargic lift of his hand, he couldn’t help thinking that everything his friend did now must in some way remind him of the person who was no longer around.

As much as he hated to give Sam’s sister credit for anything just then, he had to admit that she was right. Tina had been everything to Sam. She had driven him nuts with her forgetfulness at times and she’d never been crazy about living in “a nature preserve,” as she’d called Harbor, but they had cared enough about each other to overlook whatever differences they’d had.

The fact that Tina had been willing to put up with Zach dragging her husband off for fishing trips and hanging around for her meat loaf and to play with the kids had made Zach think she was pretty special himself. He’d had the feeling he was special to her, too, in a decidedly brother-sister sort of way. He wasn’t the sort of man who expressed his feelings well with words. Never had been. Never would be. But he was pretty sure she’d known he would have done anything in the world for her and the brawny pilot who’d just opened the back passenger door of his vehicle and ducked his head inside. Jason was back there, strapped in his car seat and no doubt as impatient as he always was to get out now that the vehicle had stopped.

By the time Zach reached the open door himself, the man in the heavy blue parka was backing up with the three-year-old perched high in his arms to keep the kid’s feet out of the mud. A miniature camouflage backpack dangled by a strap from one big fist. In the other, he had a handful of crayon drawings.

Giving his son a little bounce to adjust his weight, Sam glanced toward Zach. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going to work on your plane.”

“I’m looking for the manifest file.” Reaching forward, Zach shoved the door closed for him, the sound echoing like a gunshot in the cold winter air. The sharp report was immediately followed by the crunch of gravel beneath their feet as they headed for the shelter of the porch. “I need the one for the flight to Orcas this afternoon. The shipment of pottery T. J. Walker is shipping to the gallery,” he prompted, eyeing the little boy who’d twisted sideways to see him. “Chuck’s ready to take off, but you’ve got it.”

From beneath the lopsided hood of his red parka, the impish Jason gave Zach a smile. The blond little boy with the deep dimple in his cheek held up his hand, palm out.

Zach smiled back. The kid had the biggest blue eyes he’d ever seen. Next to the boy’s little sister, anyway. And maybe their aunt.

“Hey, buddy,” he murmured, mentally frowning at his last thought as he greeted the child with their usual high-five.

“Hey, buddy,” Jason echoed, grinning.

The crunch of gravel gave way to the heavy thud of their boots on steps and porch planks. Beneath the ledge of his dark eyebrows, Sam’s normally keen eyes narrowed in confusion as he halted by the door and wiped his feet. “Why would I have it?”

A two-day growth of beard shadowed Sam’s rough-hewn features. His short dark hair looked as if it had been combed by the wind and there was a faintly pink quality to the whites of his eyes that could have passed for the effect of a bad cold or a three-day binge—except Zach knew his friend only indulged in an occasional beer, and that the dull, listless look had been there for days.

Zach figured it was probably from lack of rest.

Or from tears.

The thought made him shift uncomfortably as he jerked his glance to Jason. “I don’t know why you’d have it,” he replied, giving the kid a playful punch in the shoulder. Now wasn’t the time to tell Sam he probably had the document because his thoughts had been a million miles away when he’d picked it up. That particular conversation couldn’t be rushed. “I saw you put it in the day’s flight file when we were sorting freight this morning. Chuck saw you take a file from the counter just before you left an hour ago,” he expanded, speaking of the other pilot in their hire. “Since that’s the only one missing, logic says that’s the one you left with.”

The confusion remained. “All I took were the invoices I’d told you I’d total.”

“They’re still there.”

Sam opened his mouth as if to say that wasn’t possible. Apparently realizing it was, he turned to the door. With Jason wriggling to get down, he let the boy slide to his feet and pushed it open.

Preoccupied as he was, he nearly knocked over the lady Zach had nearly flattened on his way out a while ago.

Lauren had just reached to open the door when it opened on its own. Taking a quick step back so she wouldn’t get run over, she sidestepped her brother as he walked in.

“Sorry,” he muttered, oblivious to the fact that there was a woman in a turquoise serape on the other side of the tall panel of pine. Concentration creased his rugged, ragged features as he strode past, saying nothing else as he headed for the kitchen.

Jason walked right past her, too, his chin tucked down as he tugged on the zipper of his jacket.

“Is everything all right?” she called after her sibling.

“He’s getting the manifest.”

At the sound of the deep voice in the doorway, Lauren’s heart gave an unhealthy jerk. She’d suspected Zach would be right behind Sam. The thought alone had given her pause. But there was something about the husky sound of his voice and the unblinking way he watched her as he stepped over the threshold that tensed every nerve in her body.

Since she had no intention of letting him know that, she deliberately shifted her focus to the woman emerging from behind the door.

The apology in her expression moved into her voice. “Are you all right?”

The woman, who’d asked to be called Doe, gave her a forgiving smile. “No harm,” she replied softly, tugging the strap of her fringed bag over her shoulder. Hair the texture of fine wire shifted as she glanced from the dark and disturbing man blocking her exit to the child who’d stopped in the middle of the spacious room. Jason was still working at his zipper. “It’s busy around here, isn’t it?”

“Here it is,” Sam called, retrieving the file from the top of the refrigerator. “Hi,” he said to their visitor, looking slightly puzzled by her presence when he spotted her from the kitchen door.

Doe appeared as sympathetic as she did uncertain as she offered him a smile he barely noticed. “I guess I’ll be on my way,” she said to Lauren. “Remember to call Maddy O’Toole at the Road’s End Café. If you get word out there that you’re looking for a sitter, you shouldn’t have any trouble at all finding someone. Especially if it’s only for a couple months or so.”

“Thanks,” Lauren murmured, meaning it. “And thanks for your time. I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”

Though Doe Adams’s smile was as gentle as she herself seemed to be, Lauren didn’t think the woman who greeted every sunrise in the lotus position looked all that disappointed as she scooted past Zach. If anything, she looked relieved to be escaping the room. Doe was certainly nice enough. Interesting, too, in a decidedly eccentric sort of way. But from the moment she’d walked in, Lauren had had the feeling that she wasn’t quite what her brother was looking for. When the woman’s first question about the children had been about their birth signs, she was pretty much convinced of it.

With their visitor heading down the steps, Zach moved back into the doorway and took the file Sam handed him. The men were the same height and easily met eye to eye, but her brother was stockier than Zach, more powerfully built. Zach was rangier, leaner. More…predatory.

The word powerful described him, too.

Like a panther.

“She looked familiar,” Sam said to Lauren as she shivered against the damp chill of the air.

“She said you flew her to the mainland last year. Apparently that was the only time since 1973 that she’s been off the island.”

“Sounds like a lot of people around here,” he murmured. “Is she going to watch the kids?”

Lauren shook her head, less concerned with the apparent idiosyncrasies of the people who’d chosen to live on Harbor than she was with the finely tuned tension snaking between her and the man edging toward the stairs himself. “She only cooks vegetarian and won’t work in a house that has animal hides on the furniture.”

She glanced toward the leather sofa and armchairs and gave a philosophical shrug. Everyone was entitled to their causes. She would have mentioned that, too, except she didn’t want to hold him up from letting Zach go now that the man had what he’d come for.

Zach obviously wasn’t interested in being held up, either.

“Listen, Sam.” He pulled open his vest, tucking his precious file between the waterproof fabric and his shirt. “I need to talk to you this afternoon. It’s important.”

There wasn’t a trace of curiosity in her brother’s obliging, “Sure. Come back when you’re through. I need to talk to you about switching flights tomorrow, anyway. I want to take the first mail run.”

“I mean at the office,” Zach replied, completely ignoring what Sam wanted to do. “It’s business.”

“We can’t talk business here?”

“Humor me. Okay?”

Looking as if it really didn’t matter to him one way or the other, Sam shrugged. “If that’s what you want,” he murmured. “What time are you leaving?”

“I’ll wait until you get there.”

Sam gave a mechanical nod. An instant later, having pointedly avoided meeting her eyes, Zach bounded down the steps to his truck and her brother finally closed the door on the cold.

Wearily running his fingers through his hair, he turned to where Lauren knelt to pick up the jacket Jason had left in the middle of the wine-colored rug. Jason himself was at the television set, opening the long drawer under it that housed videotapes. His denim-covered behind rested on the heels of little hiking boots that looked like miniature versions of his dad’s and he appeared, for the moment, totally preoccupied.

So did his father.

Lauren had thought a few moments ago that Sam looked a little ragged. Studying him more closely in the light of the bright brass lamps, she decided that he simply looked worn out.

“Do you want me to get you something to eat?” she asked, because food was the only real comfort she could think to offer. “Mom said she left a couple of casseroles in there.”

“She did. Lasagnas, I think. But you don’t have to worry about me. It’s the kids I need help with.” He blew a breath, forced a smile. “I really appreciate you coming, Sis.”

She knew he did. He’d practically broken her ribs when he’d wrapped her in his greeting hug. Yet, when she’d hugged him back, just as fiercely, he’d immediately eased up and let her go. She’d just wanted to hold him and absorb whatever she could of his pain. But he wasn’t the kind of man who could handle sympathy. Rather than make things worse for him by offering it, she would simply offer her support.

That meant doing whatever she could to keep anyone from making his life any harder than it needed to be. And that meant dealing with Zach McKendrick.

She knew exactly what he wanted to talk to Sam about. She knew why he didn’t want to talk to him at the house, too. He didn’t want her around to point out what a louse he was. He’d said he had his reasons for grounding her brother. But she didn’t care what those reasons were. She simply couldn’t bear the thought of him telling her brother he couldn’t do the only thing that provided any real escape for him right now.

“Sam,” she began, intent on ignoring the sudden sick sensation in her stomach. “I know your partner asked to see you, but I need to run an errand before you go. Just a quick one,” she assured him, darting a glance down the hall. “Jenny’s still asleep, so I guess everything should be okay here for a while.”

Jason spun around and scrambled to his feet. “Can we watch Rugrats?” Holding up the video he’d selected, he marched past his aunt and handed it to his dad. “It’s a new one.”

Weighing questions from sister and son, Sam sank into the deep cushions of his favorite chair. Catching his little boy under the arms of his sweatshirt, he hauled him into his lap. “Sure,” he said to him. “Do you want to put it in or do you want me to?”

“You do it.”

“Why don’t I do it?” Lauren smiled as she reached for the brightly colored box. “I’m already up.”

Jason didn’t look too certain about relinquishing his prize. He didn’t really know her. Not the way he knew the grandmother who’d left yesterday and certainly not the way he knew his dad. Lauren knew the child’s only real memories of her would have been of three days last Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and the two days she’d been in Tacoma two weeks ago. He’d had no problem at all crawling into her lap for a story or sharing his cookies with her at Christmas. But, during the awful time over New Year’s he’d wanted only his dad and the woman who’d left just yesterday.

“Let Aunt Lauren help, Jase. She’s going to be here for a while taking care of you and your sister while I’m at work. Okay?”

Beneath the fringe of honey-colored hair, the child’s big eyes looked uncertain. The coaxing helped, though. After another moment of hesitation, he handed over the video he’d chosen, then laid his head on his dad’s big solid chest.

Had she not been in such a hurry, Lauren would have worried about how Jason would react to being left in her care. With him safe in Sam’s arms, her only thought as she slipped the tape into the VCR and got the thing running was that she might not need to be alone with the children at all if she couldn’t convince Zach to change his mind.

There was a certain irony in that thought. Especially when she considered how much more comfortable with the kids she would be if Sam were around during the day. Yet, as she shrugged on her long black raincoat without bothering to change into more suitable clothes, and fished her keys from her shoulder bag, she dismissed the thought completely. This wasn’t about what she was comfortable with. If it were, she wouldn’t be leaving the house.

“Don’t be gone long okay?” her brother asked, his eyes, like his son’s, glued to the cartoon characters on the large screen. “I need to see what Zach wants.”

It was a fair indication of how detached Sam was that he didn’t ask where she was going. She’d only arrived ten minutes before he’d left for the preschool. Given that she’d passed the majority of places to shop when she’d driven off the ferry, it was doubtful she needed anything from a store. He knew she didn’t know a soul in the area, either. But she was grateful he didn’t ask. She could evade, but she’d never been able to outright lie.

“I’ll hurry,” she promised, keys jangling. He looked as numb as he’d told her he felt. “It won’t take you long to get to your office, anyway. Will it?”

“Ten minutes. It’s only five miles to the airstrip.”

Lauren wasn’t exactly sure where she was going. She had only been to Harbor once before. That had been three years ago with her now-ex-husband and that time as this, she’d taken the ferry. They’d been there for two days over a summer festival weekend and she never had made it to her brother’s office.

Driving along the narrow, desolate road now, she rather wished she had asked Sam for a tour of his base of operations. She knew his office was at the airport. She just wasn’t exactly sure where the airport was. When a person drove off the ferry, the town was right there. All fourteen blocks of it, including the boardwalk which lead to an aquarium with a huge mural of a killer whale painted on the side. The sign at the end of the pier read, Welcome to Harbor, Pop. 1,200.

Just beyond that greeting a twelve-foot-high post sprouted signs that pointed in eight different directions and included the mileage to the North End, where thousands of hikers and campers headed in the summer, and Hidden Sound, where she understood the kayakers hung out. It also indicated the directions of Seattle, New York and Tibet, useful information to someone she was sure, but there was no indication of where one might find the airport.