The Detective’s Undoing

Chapter 13

Zoe and Ty’s wedding day arrived, sunny and breezy and glorious. To everyone’s joy, Edna flew in with Jacob.

With the custody hearing only days away, Delia thought she’d be a nervous wreck, but having Jacob close by settled her nerves as nothing else could have.

She stood near the altar with Maddie, both of them dressed in the midnight-blue silky dresses she’d made, waiting for Zoe to walk down the aisle of the small church.

Across from her stood Ty, tall, dark and gorgeous, staring intently at the door at the end of the aisle. He was waiting with barely restrained patience for a glimpse of his bride.

Next to Ty stood Cade, the best man, also tall, dark and gorgeous. And staring.

At her.

She lifted a brow, questioning, but he didn’t move, just kept looking at her, and it was such a deeply personal questing stare she could do nothing but return it. She felt as though she could see so much in his eyes-hope and happiness and passion. And strength-strength he’d share with her whenever her own faltered.

Yet he was leaving; he had to be. He was done with the case and she knew he wouldn’t, couldn’t, ever be happy in one spot.

Zoe appeared then, and Delia’s attention was momentarily diverted. Yet, beautiful as her sister looked in the gown she’d created, as wonderful and touching as the ceremony was, Delia couldn’t get her mind off Cade. The way he was watching her, warming her with his sensual knowing gaze.

What was he thinking as he looked at her like that, as if she was the only woman in the world?

Ty and Zoe held hands as they spoke their vows, their gazes filled with such wonder and love that Delia had to look away, or the deep ache inside her might consume her.

She didn’t want Cade to go, maybe she’d never wanted him to go.

He was intelligent, funny, passionate, and the most caring man she’d ever met. He was on her mind from the moment she awoke in the morning until she fell asleep at night. She dreamed about him and got up with the memory of his taste, his touch, and instead of being satisfied, she wanted more. She wanted all of him, and it wasn’t just a physical wanting, though her body yearned and burned.

With all her heart she wanted him to stay.

Forever.

The thought made her gasp out loud, and Maddie shot her a surprised look, but Delia regained her composure quickly, for it was foolish to wonder what it would be like to have Cade forever.

Ty leaned close to Zoe and kissed her hard and long. Cade and Maddie laughed and clapped, Edna looked touched, and as the kiss dragged on, Jacob wore an expression between feigned disgust and happiness. Delia smiled, but she couldn’t tear her gaze away from Cade.

Later, after everyone had left the church and they were at dinner together, Cade pulled Delia aside and gazed deeply into her eyes. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?”

His words stole her breath. “You’ve seen beautiful women before.”

Not denying that, he laughed softly, sexily, and blocking her from the others with his body, he stroked a work-roughened thumb over her jaw. “What’s on that gorgeous mind of yours, Delia? It’s not another woman.”

“Yes. Yes, it is,” she whispered. “I want to know about your wife.”

His thumb stilled. “I’m not comparing the two of you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Because there’s no comparison?”

“Because you’re so different.” He sighed when she only waited for more. “I loved Lisa. We were high-school sweethearts. Best friends. We were…comfortable. Cozy.” His gaze waited for hers. “What you and I have, Delia, has never been cozy.”

“No. Not cozy.”

His eyes heated and he touched her again, making her shiver.

“Would you ever be happy staying here?” Shocked and horrified at herself, she scrambled to backpedal. “Never mind. Just…never mind.” When she tried to step away, he stopped her.

“I didn’t know you thought of me like that,” he said, clearly surprised.

“Yeah, well, don’t let it go to your head.” Determined to let nothing ruin this day, Zoe’s wedding day, she again tried to turn away.

And again he stopped her. “Just because I’ve avoided commitment since my family’s death doesn’t mean I don’t know the meaning of the word,” he murmured, watching his fingers on her arm as he ran them down to her fingers to link their hands. Then he raised their joined hands to his lips. “I don’t know what to do about you, Delia. God help me, I just don’t.”

What did that mean? Whatever it meant, he wasn’t offering undying love, that was certain. And anyway, she didn’t need it. She had everything that mattered. Her life was perfect as it was, or it would be after the custody hearing.

She tried to pull away once more, afraid to let him see into her eyes, because all she felt for him was there, leaving her far more vulnerable than she’d ever been in her life.

“Delia-”

“No, don’t.” And with a tug, she broke free.

Jacob was at the table when she got there, watching her carefully, and she smiled at him.

“You look funny,” he said, his brow puckering. “You’re not going to…cry or anything, are you?”

“No.” Swallowing hard, she forced another smile.

The fact that Cade was indeed the prince she’d been looking for all her life didn’t escape her and certainly didn’t help her already-bruised pride.

She didn’t want to need him as much as she did, didn’t want to need anyone.

The restaurant had a small dance floor and a three-piece band. But they were good, and it wasn’t long before Ty dragged Zoe out onto the floor for a dance.

Cade watched them for a moment, locked in each other’s arms and apparently lost in each other. The way Ty held Zoe, the way she looked at him, stirred the emptiness in his own heart.

Automatically, without even realizing what he was doing, he searched out Delia. And found her, quietly watching him. The now familiar confusion hit him, the one that always came when he looked at her.

Her light eyes were clear and warm. The soft flickering glow of the candles gave her skin a pearly luster. Her glorious hair, loose and wavy to her shoulders, shone.

Delia by candlelight.

He’d never seen anyone lovelier.

Slowly, almost against his will, he moved toward her. Her eyes widened when his intent became clear, but his Delia, his strong valiant steady Delia, held her ground.

“Come with me,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her up.

“What are you doing?” she asked in an alarmed whisper, glancing back at Maddie, who just smiled serenely.

Cade smiled, too, and didn’t let go of her, so that short of making a scene, she had little to no choice other than to follow him. She managed to throw a smile back to Maddie and the others, but he could feel how stiff she was.

“Relax,” he murmured in her ear, drawing her close for a slow dance he knew would be pure torture.

“I can’t!”

“Sure you can. You just take a deep breath and-”

“No, dammit! I mean, I can’t dance!”

He laughed, but when she went even stiffer, he eased back and looked at her. “You’re not kidding?” For some ridiculous reason tenderness filled him. It meant that no one had ever held her quite like this, which shouldn’t have been so thrilling. The music obliged him, became slower more sensual, and there in the dark they began to move to the beat.

“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered, clearly flustered. “Or where to put my hands…or my feet.”

“Just ease up against me…yeah, that’s it. Put your hands here…” He wrapped one around his neck. “And here…” He entwined her fingers with his, drawing her against him. Ignoring the shaft of heat that caused, he smiled into her tense face. “This is supposed to be fun, you know.”

“Fun,” she muttered, but she swayed with him, holding him as if she liked it in spite of herself. “We’re awfully close.”

“That’s the idea.” He held her gaze as she blushed. Then she tucked her face into the crook of his neck, which was just as good because now he could feel her every little breath, which seemed to be coming faster and faster.

Cade could have drowned in the pleasure of it.

We’re awfully close.

It’d been a problem for both of them since the first time they’d met. But he found that he no longer had the will to fight that closeness, that he actually wanted to savor it, go with it. For him, it was like coming out of a dark tunnel, one he’d been in for eight long years. It was like feeling the warmth of the sun on his face after a cold and bitter winter.

His body gravitated toward hers until there wasn’t an inch of space between them as they moved to the music. Her fingers were curled in the ends of his hair, stroking lightly in a caress he wasn’t sure she was even aware of; but he was, so much so that he had to close his eyes. But all that did was intensify everything. The feel of her soft body against his firm one, the easy flow of her movements, the heat those movements generated.

When he rocked, she rocked, and she let out a little sigh, losing the last of her resistance. He nearly groaned out loud. Her touch felt good, too good, and the feel of her arms around him only added to the sweet pain. He buried his face in her hair and held on tight, wondering if she could feel his heart racing, wondering if she knew he was as hard as a rock.

Just then she looked up at him, her gaze filled with wonder, and an awareness that made him catch his breath.

She knew.

Slowly she slid her hips over his. His arousal throbbed.

“Delia.”

In answer, she did it again.

Oh, yeah, she’d definitely noticed.

“I think I’ve got the hang of this slow-dancing thing,” she whispered, drawing back as the music ended. “What do you think?”

He thought she was part witch, part angel. He thought he might haul her off and have his merry way with her in the parking lot. He thought… Oh, hell. He thought he was in love with her. In love with a woman afraid of the word. “I think… I know I want you. Delia, I want you more than I want my next breath.”

“I want you, too, but-”

“The but,” he muttered. “There’s always a but.”

“Sometimes there has to be.”

“I don’t know why.”

“Because this is complicated.”

“There’s another word I don’t like.”

Her expression saddened. “I’m not capable of uncomplicated unattached sex,” she said, and while he wanted to laugh, he couldn’t.

He knew Delia would never give herself without love. But could she love? “What if it’s not just sex?” he asked.

“It’s not anything more,” she said quickly. “It can’t be.”

“Why?”

“Why?” She let out a small laugh that didn’t fool either of them. “What a silly question.”

“Not silly. Answer it.”

“Okay,” she said slowly, obviously scrambling for thoughts. “It’s not more because…because I have too much going on, that’s why. I have my sisters, the ranch, Jacob-”

“Excuses.” Gently he cupped her face. “All excuses.”

“The truth,” she said firmly, but her rapidly rising and falling chest told him the real truth.

She was afraid. He knew that, just as he knew he wasn’t ready to admit his own feelings to her.

Didn’t know if he ever would be.

Jacob called her just then, and Zoe was about to toss her bouquet, and for the rest of the evening, Delia made sure she was too busy to give Cade more than a glance, though glance she did, and often, in a way that made it clear to him she was unsettled and off balance.

Well, good, he thought grimly.

That made two of them.

Delia knew that Cade hoped she would go to his room that night. She also knew that making love with him would be the most sensual erotic experience of her inexperienced life. He was amazingly in tune to her, and so damn sexy her knees went weak if he merely smiled.

He’d opened his wounds for her, had made himself vulnerable. She knew he expected the same of her.

She couldn’t do it. She’d never done it, bared her heart and soul completely, other than that time out by the river where she’d sobbed in his arms. Just thinking about it brought a flush to her face. Of course when she remembered what followed, of how he’d touched and kissed her as though she was the most precious woman on earth, that flush of shame turned into something else entirely. Her entire body tingled at the memory.

Now, without further thought, she might have gone to Cade, might have followed her body’s cravings, if it hadn’t been for the phone call.

It was Scott.

“I’d like to see you before the judge’s ruling,” he said. He sounded surprisingly open and friendly.

She was alone in the office. Zoe and Ty had stayed in Rawlings for their wedding night. Maddie, Edna and Jacob had already gone to bed, and Cade… She had no idea where Cade had gone, only knew that she wasn’t going to easily fall asleep when she remembered that last hungry all-consuming look he’d given her.

Now Scott was on the phone, as pleasant as if they’d never had any harsh words between them. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she said.

“Please?” His voice softened even more. “I haven’t been as honest as I could, and I know that. I think we can work this out…”

While she knew Scott hadn’t faced any job repercussions-yet-she had hopes that he would. Did Scott know they’d sent the judge a letter outlining their concerns about him as Jacob’s social worker?

No, he didn’t know, she decided, or he never would have bothered to call her now. “Are you withdrawing your request for custody?”

“I know how much Jacob means to you,” he said. “I’ve seen you with him.”

“He’s my family. So have you, Scott? Have you withdrawn your request?”

“You know, this is too important to discuss over the telephone.”

He was right about that much.

“We’re meeting the judge in two days,” he said urgently. “All I’m asking is that you come in one day early and meet with me. It’s your brother’s future, and yours. But if I’m asking too much…?”

“No,” she said. “Of course not.”

They agreed on a restaurant to meet the night before the judge’s ruling, which meant tomorrow night.

So close, and yet an eternity away.

For a long time after she hung up, Delia sat there alone in the dark office. She didn’t have to be alone. She could seek out Cade, open her heart and spill her worries. He’d welcome her.

She could tell him everything, then ask him to come with her to L.A., and he would, she knew, without hesitation.

But her old fierce independence reared its head. She had to remind herself she didn’t need him, though that was getting more and more difficult. In fact, it was almost a pretense now, because the truth was she did need him. Too much for her own comfort.

She’d deal with that after Jacob, she promised herself. One way or another.