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“I hope first thing means ten.”
“First thing means seven. Deal with it.” Before she could respond, he hung up, leaving her shaking her head.
David was her stepbrother. His mother had married her Dad when they had both lost their respective spouses when she and David had been in their teens. David and his mother had come to live with them in the rambling farmhouse.
Both children had ignored each other for several weeks until their parents intervened and gave them a talking to, telling them in no uncertain terms that they had become a family and needed to get along.
David had made the first move, and she had grudgingly followed suit. After that, the two had become inseparable. He was her brother in everything except blood and was fiercely protective of her.
They saw each other every week whenever she was around, and he had been her rock when both parents had died tragically in a car wreck two years ago.
His wife Lori had had to accept that they shared a special bond.
Flopping back against the pillows, she closed her eyes wearily. Jerry had called her several times while in transit, but she did not want to deal with him. She knew what he would say and could wait to hear the depressing news.
Feeling the heaviness coming over her, she forced herself to rise and go and take a bath. A glass of wine might not be a good idea, but she needed one.
*****
“You are worried about her. She happens to be a big girl.” His wife’s voice was mild, but he was not fooled. She was definitely on edge again.
“I know she is.” David grasped her wrist and pulled her on the sofa beside him. “What’s up?”
“Nothing.”
“Try again; I happen to be a damn good detective.” His dark brown eyes sized up the petite woman with the auburn hair and incredible emerald green eyes.
He loved her, but they had been going through hell the past couple of years because they had been trying for a baby. He would not have minded for himself, but he knew Lori desperately wanted a child.
“I am thirty-four.” She whispered.
“Really?” Lifting her hand, he kissed the palm. “You look more like a teenager with your hair pulled back in that ponytail. You always make me feel like a dirty old man.”
Instead of easing the tension, it had the opposite effect. Tears welled in her jewel-like eyes, making them shimmer. “I am afraid of losing you. I am the one at fault; I am the one who cannot give you a child. I have no idea why you are still with me.”
“Stop it!” Letting go of her hand, he gripped her narrow shoulders and shook her slightly, dark brown eyes fired up. “I love you, dammit. How many times do I have to prove that you are the only woman for me?”
“I cannot give you a child, David!” She cried. “It is breaking my heart that nothing is working.”
“I have you, Lori.” His expression softened. “I am happy with you. I have a job that means the world to me, and I have you, my darling wife, and a sister I would give up my life for. Let it be enough.”
She stared at him through eyes brimming over with tears. David Pennant had been formerly adopted by Delores’ father a year after he had gone to live with them and was an imposing man, topping over six feet.
His hair was closely shaven, and his skin was a chocolate and light cream mixture. He had taken her breath away when she opened the door to him.
There had been a spate of homicides in her neighborhood, and the police had been knocking on doors. He had turned up at hers, wearing a rumpled cotton shirt and a scarred bomber jacket.
She had fallen for him that very minute and sought him out at the precinct the next day on the pretext of following up. He had seen right through her and accepted her invitation to coffee. That had been ten years ago, and she had not stopped falling.
“I am scared,” She admitted, moving into his arms. “I do not want to lose you.”
He brushed a kiss over her hair, a frown touching his brow. “I am here, darling, and I always will be.” He held her while she dissolved in his arms, her hands gripping his shirt.
Chapter 2
“Wake up, sleepy head.” David shouldered his way into the room bearing a tray.
“You made me breakfast.” Delores sat up against the pillows and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Dragging her fingers through the thick dark brown hair, she watched him enter the room and put the tray table over her lap. “I did not even hear the alarm alert on my phone.”
