The Hidden Legacy, стр. 35

“Hey kid, do you like pizza?” Henry said before I could answer my son.

Eli’s eyes lit up. “Can we have pepperoni pizza?”

“Sure, my treat,” Henry said without asking me.

With a battle cry Eli was off to his bedroom. The cat came out from wherever he’d been napping and slunk past me to sit under the table.

“Eli,” I called, “if you want pizza, you’d better come pick up your school papers and put your backpack away.”

“Mom!” Eli complained as he bounced back in the room.

I sent Eli a look, and he pouted. “Fine,” he announced, making the ultimate sacrifice of putting his things away.

I studied Henry who stood there grinning at Eli from ear to ear. “Henry,” I began, “you don’t have to take us out to eat.”

“What’s the matter, darlin’? Are you nervous?” Henry asked casually.

“What?” I said. “I am not.” Although, I was.

Henry smiled. “I think it would be good for us to get to know each other better,” he said over the ruckus of Eli running around. “You’re the one who said you hardly knew me, so we’ll get started working on that.”

I frowned at him, feeling maneuvered.

“I find it hard to believe that the woman who broke an armed robber’s nose with a broom handle, and who chases down arsonists would be skittish about going out with me for pizza.”

“Skittish?” My back stiffened. “Hardly.”

“Well then.” Henry grinned at me. “It’s all settled. We even have a chaperone.”

***

Over the next few weeks Henry Walker and I got to know each other. We went to the movies, out to dinner, sometimes alone and sometimes with Eli. The dates were casual, and to my surprise Henry didn’t press for more than a kiss goodnight. He made a comment to me that we’d taken things out of order, and I was a little caught off guard by a man who seemed more old fashioned. Especially considering how we’d started out.

Henry never asked me again about being psychic, and to my relief he didn’t seem to remember anything about the fire, except following me into the Miller’s backyard—and then waking up clear across it. He shrugged it off, blaming the lapse of memory on the mild concussion. I held my breath waiting for the other shoe to drop, and when he didn’t bring it up again, I started to relax.

He took Eli and me out to the property he’d purchased. The old farmhouse needed work, but the barn and other structures on the property were in good shape. Eli ran around exploring the old house, and I realized as I listened to Henry talk about the future plans for the property that it wasn’t hard to imagine him with a few horses, living out in the country.

At work he was fairly easy to get along with. He still didn’t always return his calls, but he did maintain somewhat of a professional working relationship, and that relieved me. Edmund took the news of Henry and I seeing each other in stride, and he and Henry put in hours of surveillance and tracked down the arsonist who’d set the fire at the Miller’s house. Once the teen was arrested, the burglaries in the Oak Hills neighborhood stopped. The local papers ran a story about the agency, and I was happy to stay in the background.

August rolled into September and still Henry hadn’t made any moves towards the bedroom, and I could privately admit that it was starting to make me twitchy. The man could kiss, I’d give him that. I’d even taken him to my favorite beach and we’d walked through the surf alone, and had sat on the boulders making out like a couple of teenagers.

Afterwards I was convinced that he’d take me back to his apartment and we’d finally have sex, but to my shock he instead took me home, walked me to the door, ended the evening with another smoldering kiss, and left.

***

I parked behind the office and sat thinking about the past few weeks. Checking my reflection in the review mirror, I scowled. “If I didn’t know any better I’d think the man was courting me, or something.”

But that didn’t make sense. Henry Walker wasn’t a romantic. He was a schemer and a bit of a scoundrel. That’s what I liked about him.

And honestly? I was starting to get suspicious. What was he up to? What in the hell was he waiting for? Was he waiting for me to ask him to bed? I blew out a frustrated breath, and admitted to myself that if the sexual tension between us wasn’t relieved soon, I’d probably end up doing something drastic. However, considering how that had worked out the first and only time...it would probably be for the best if I let this play out.

I psyched myself up and strolled in to the office at a quarter to nine, trying to act casual. I smoothed my long black sundress down and went through my morning routine of booting up the computer and checking for voice mails. I was brewing myself a cup of tea when I caught a whiff of ocean, wind and beach.

Henry. I smiled.

He moved to my side and began to make himself a cup of coffee.

“Good morning,” I said.

“We still have five minutes before official ‘business hours’,” he said, while he tucked a K cup in the machine.

I glanced up at the clock and sipped at my tea. “So we do.”

He took the mug out of my hand, and caged me in by bracing his arms against the counter on either side of my hips. Henry leaned down and our lips had just met when—

“Morning!” Edmund sauntered into the kitchenette and smiled at the two of us.

The mood broken, I casually picked back up my tea. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go through the messages.”

I found Henry standing over my desk a short time later. “Yes?” I asked.

“I was wondering,” Henry said, handing me a file, “would you