Page 51 of Ace
He’d blamed Shane for leaving him, that was why Keller forgot his dad. Remembering only made him soft and weak. It made him cry, and Elaine never tolerated weakness. She was one of those her-way-or-the-highway alpha bitches. Only the house Elaine built was as full of shit as she was.
Back then, Keller didn’t know better. He was a defenseless kid with no one at his back but a shrieking, hounding shrew who wore him out. In the end, he’d shut down. He’d schooled his thoughts and hardened his heart until every good memory of the man who’d once loved him turned to dust and blew away. A kid will do anything to survive. Even lie to himself.
But now those memories emerged from the locked-up vault of his child’s heart, and Keller grieved for what could’ve been. He remembered the good times, but he wondered. What exactly was in the tea Elaine gave Carol Marie? Better question: could a decent ME, with the current advances in forensic technology, now isolate the poison Keller believed Elaine used to kill Carol Marie?
Elaine had sent Keller on an errand to fetch one of her crows for the doctor down the road. Elaine kept cages of various animals for her curses. By the time he returned from those cages, Carol Marie was dead. Elaine said she’d choked to death. He’d been so shocked and grief-stricken, he’d just gathered Carol Marie’s limp body into his arms and ran to the nearest doctor, Doctor Scratch, another backwoods ‘professional’ like Doctor John. Also one of Elaine’s voodoo buddies.
In the end it didn’t matter. The crow he’d fetched had been for the liar, Dr. Scratch, Elaine’s friend and cohort. Scratch had verified what Elaine said. Carol Marie just choked and died.
And Keller went berserk. If not for his wife’s limp body lying there on Dr. Scratch’s gurney, Keller would’ve ripped the charlatan apart. But he couldn’t let that man touch his wife again. After a brief, violent confrontation with Elaine, during which he’d earned the scar near his eye, Keller gathered Carol Marie into his arms and drove to the city and a real hospital emergency room. By then, a deputy waited at the hospital entrance to arrest him.
The witch had outright lied. Elaine told the sheriff he’d killed his wife, that he’d strangled Carol Marie. But the ER doctor was smarter. He let Keller stay with her body until the Medical Examiner arrived, then conferred with the ME. They both agreed. There were no ligature marks on his wife’s neck. No petechial hemorrhaging.
But because of Elaine’s lies, he spent a night in county lock-up, sick at heart and accused of murder. In the end, COD could not be precisely determined. The ME declared Carol Marie died of hypoxia, but was unable to say how it had occurred. He did say there was no validity behind Elaine’s outrageous charge, no signs of strangulation. But Carol Mariecould’vechoked to death.
Keller was in the Army at that time. Next morning, the sheriff released Keller, the MPs came for him, and Elaine walked away scot-free. He hadn’t seen her since.He’d only returned to Turkey Creek long enough to bury his wife and console her parents, then he’d scraped that sad excuse of a hometown off his boots, and he signed on for one deployment after another. The Army became home, family, and all he needed.
But now it was important to reach out, to finally know what Shane and Carol Marie had died of and to request two exhumations. It was time to know precisely what had gone on in the murky backwaters of Turkey Creek.
Whispers from Ecclesiastes surfaced from the deep dark shadows of Keller’s soul.
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones again…
A time to keep silence. And a time to speak…
So, speak.That was the key. Shane and Carol Marie could no longer speak for themselves, but Keller could. And speak he would. He’d get warrants for two exhumations, but first…
The lady in question stirred in his arms, ending the deluge of tender memories when she pushed her soft, warm backside into him. Still fully clothed, Keller’s body flamed to life at the intimate contact. It had only been hours, but he couldn’t seem to stop touching her. He found himself stronger and surer when he was with Savannah. More masculine, more powerful, and yes, even more calm. For the first time in years, Keller was at peace. And all because Savannah told him she loved him.
How ironic. An innocent creature not afraid to reach out to a war-hardened man without guile or hiddenagendas. Her innocence was her gift. Savannah took chances he’d never take. She led with her heart instead of her chin, and she gave her love away to everyone she met. Dogs, cats, birds, recalcitrant federal agents, didn’t matter. She wasn’t afraid to reach out to slathering, unpredictable beasts like Galahad. She wasn’t afraid to get bit. Yet he, the big brave soldier, hadn’t thought of petting a dog in years, not until Savannah dumped Sanctuary into his life. Keller wasn’t so sure if Sanctuary was a place—or if Sanctuary was Savannah.
What he wouldn’t give to slide in behind her, naked and ready. But one more time inside her sweet body would never be enough. He knew that now. No matter how many times he reminded himself he was an honorable arm of the federal government, that men of authority like him should maintain a strict boundary with women like Savannah, he couldn’t make himself ease away from her. Even honorable special agents had lives and lovers. Wives...
But she needed rest more than sex, and her needs would forever come first, and…
Aw hell.He pressed his nose into the warm crook of her neck, wishing she’d wake up just enough to be friendly.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Hmmm,” Savannah mumbled as a warm wave breathed into her neck, lighting every last nerve with sweet fire. She twisted around to the man she would love forever.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Keller whispered into her hair, his hand cupping the back of her head, holding her as carefully as he would a newborn baby. “Go back to sleep.”
As if she could. In the blink of a day, he’d become part of her, and she had no idea how that happened. She’d only met Keller yesterday. There was so much she didn’t know about him, so much mystery, buried sorrow, and anger. So much torment. And kindness and gentleness.
Her heart hurt for the death of his young wife. He still carried the pain, worried at it like a dog with a bone, and guarded it as if his life depended on it. He was themetaphorical dog in the manger, unable to swallow his grief, yet just as unwilling to let anyone near enough to help him deal with it. More than anything else in his life, that loss devastated Keller in ways his team would never understand—because they didn’t know he’d married. He’d never trusted them enough to tell them about Carol Marie or how she’d died. Keller was not a sharing man, and Savannah understood why. A child learned by example, and if his mother killed his wife, why would he share that sordid heartache? How could he? What proud man would?
Yet from the moment she’d met him, Savannah had also sensed the inner strength of a natural defender and a courageous warrior—a real man. He was one of those paltry few who didn’t know how to quit, truly a‘the only easy day was yesterday’kind of man. He knew what he believed in, and he fought for those beliefs. He’d willingly become an instrument of death for his country, leading the charge and taking the brunt of war and chaos, so weaker Americans, men, women, and children, didn’t have to. He took the fight to America’s enemies. He met those armies head-on, with guns blazing, probably cursing a blue streak while he’d charged into combat. The unsmiling laugh lines at the corners of his eyes testified of sacrifice, though he’d never admit it. But Savannah knew. She could easily read the grief in those glistening pools of amber.
She and Keller were two sides of the same coin, him reluctant to share and needing to be in control; her unable to hold back her boundless enthusiasm for life. He, the damaged son of a ruthless, coldhearted woman;she, the precocious great granddaughter of a woman wiser than her years. Combined, they were the ultimate paradox of attraction, complete opposites who couldn’t resist each other.
Like now. Her fingers sought the coiled pectoral muscles under his shirt. Her nose twitched. He’d showered, but there was no mistaking his delicious scent. With one touch, he’d ignited the desire banked within her quivering body. It was no longer a matter of if, only when. She licked her bottom lip, her body weeping with anticipation.
Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she opened her mouth on his throat, licking and savoring the musky, salty flavor of his skin. Falling for him all over again. When he groaned as she ran her tongue up the scruffy underside of his chin, the vibration against her lips and questing tongue urged her on. Hungry now and wide awake, she eased her fingers around his neck, using him to pull herself up the length of him. The crazy man was still dressed. That had to change.
“Let’s get you into something more comfortable,” she mumbled into his open mouth, loving the sleek heat and taste of him.
“I have things to do. I really shouldn’t stay,” he mumbled back, his mouth as full, his tongue making love with hers.
