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Heart beating wildly at the sight of him, she threw open the screen door and fell into his arms. “Thank God you’re back,” she whispered, clinging to him, drinking in the smell and feel of him as his arms surrounded her.
A lazy grin slid easily over Chase’s face. “I sure didn’t expect this kind of reception, lady.” But his arms closed securely around her waist and he rested his head on the top of hers. “It’s been a helluva week and I’m glad I’m back.” He placed an index finger under her chin and tilted her face so that he could look into her troubled eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Wrong?” she repeated.
“Yes—something happened.” His jaw hardened and his eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What’s Caleb done now?”
“Nothing . . . it’s nothing to do with him,” she said, breaking out of his embrace and rubbing her arms as if suddenly chilled.
“That’s hard to believe.”
“Cody’s father came back yesterday.”
“What!?”
“My reaction, too,” she whispered.
Chase went stock-still. “And?” he prodded.
Dani let out a long, worried sigh. “And he had dinner with us last night”
Chase’s face became hard, his eyes slits as he walked over to the fireplace, leaned against the mantel and watched her. “Just like that—all of a sudden?”
“No. There were some letters and then Cody got a call from him . . . I just can’t believe he’s here.”
“Neither can I,” Chase muttered. “ Strange, don’t you think?”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s been gone for—what, six years?”
“Seven.”
“And now, just when things are coming to a boil with Johnson, when I’m out of town, he shows up.” Chase paced in front of the fireplace, rubbing the back of his neck and his suspicions gelled. “Son of a bitch,” he muttered under his breath, his fists balling.
“He said something about a job giving out; that he wanted to get to know Cody—”
Chase cranked his head to stare at her. “You believe him?”
Dani sighed and dropped onto an arm of the couch. “I don’t know what to believe. All I know is that I don’t want him here and Cody does. So—I let him come over, just last night. Things were going along just fine until after dinner when Blake tried to give Cody a gun—a .22—and I objected. We argued and I ended up asking Blake to leave with the gun.”
“And Cody didn’t like it.”
“No.” She shuddered. “He screamed and yelled at me, told me he hated me, said he wanted to live with his father . . .”
Her voice cracked and she had to take a deep breath to control herself. “I . . . I stood my ground, but—”
“You’re afraid you’re losing him,” Chase guessed, coming up behind h
er and placing his hands on her shoulders. She was turned away from him, but the tender warmth of his fingers soothed some of her fears. He nuzzled the back of her neck and the strength flowing from his body to hers helped ease her fears.
“I just wish Blake had never come back,” she said bitterly, balling her fist and pressing it to her lips.
“Maybe it’s better that he did,” Chase said, trying to stamp down his own insane feelings of jealousy. “Cody needed to meet him; see what kind of a man his father is.”
“If I just hadn’t gotten so . . . angry.”
“Shh. Don’t blame yourself for doing what you think was right.” Chase rotated her and folded her body neatly to his. “He’s not going to come between you and Cody or us.”
