Jamie by Lori Foster Read Free Book Online Page A

Eventually, all the pieces would fall into place. Patience. That’s all it took. Patience ... and planning.
    Within minutes, the hidden car pulled out of the bushes and drove away.
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    Half an hour later, bushes at the back of a sprawling, well-maintained farmhouse provided cover. Knute’s old dog went straight to the door, scratched once, and seconds later it opened. A girl of about fifteen looked at the shivering mutt huddled on her stoop. She promptly yelled for her daddy while stepping out into the rain, trying to shield the dog’s body with her own.
    A very tall man appeared, scanned the area, then went to one knee. His gentle voice carried on the wind. Seconds later, a woman appeared with an old blanket, cooing and tsking, and the dog went inside with a lot of attention.
    Swallowing around a melon-sized lump of emotion proved impossible. Cold, wet, but pleased with the end result ... yep, it was time to call it a night.
    There were a lot of unanswered questions, but tomorrow would bring more time to investigate. Patience, that’s all it took.
    A laugh bubbled out. Yeah, right. Patience? Ha. Anticipation beat patience any day of the week.
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    Jamie’s head hurt with questions.
    Why would the mother of a young girl be in his cabin? Where was her daughter? What did she want from him?
    Faith knew him from the Farmington Research Institute. But how?
    Worse than the awful confusion, he kept thinking about her naked body, her open sexual invitation. And he kept thinking about that elusive comfort he’d felt for only a heartbeat, the comfort that had reached out to him from her daughter.
    He wanted to trust Faith, no two ways about that. But what would she do to him?
    The shower shut off and he heard humming. Humming.
    Like a caged animal, Jamie prowled around his cabin—which didn’t feel like his cabin anymore. Not only did it smell different with a woman flitting about, but things were out of place. The cushions on his couch. The jar of moonshine. The few dishes in the sink.
    The fire shone bright, and the room had already warmed.
    But damn, he’d become more accustomed to his cold shadows.
    Prodded by anger and uncertainty, Jamie went to the couch and straightened the cushions. He picked up the damp towels and tossed them in the dryer, then put his wet jeans in the laundry basket. He stored things away, cleaned dishes, added more wood to the fire, and then ... he had nothing left to do.
    The fire snapped and crackled, and with it his apprehension expanded, his pulse accelerated. By the time Faith finally opened the door and stepped out, Jamie felt ready to jump out of his skin.
    Speaking as she left the bathroom, she said, “I used some of your toothpaste and a corner of a washcloth to clean my teeth. Oh, and your lotion. Hope that’s okay.”
    Jamie saw that she’d also taken his comb from the medicine cabinet to tackle the tangles in her hair. Head bent to the task, she wobbled forward, no less drunk but now pink and fresh and ...
    She looked up and found him just standing there in the middle of the floor, watching her. Her open happiness assailed him. She swayed, dropped the comb, and regained her balance. “Hi.”
    It was a miracle she’d managed her shower without drowning herself, given her state of inebriation. Jamie swallowed. “Hi.” He cleared his throat. “I meant to ask, how’s your head? You hit it pretty hard.”
    â€œOh, yeah.” She gingerly prodded the injury and winced. “Sore, but the moonshine helped. It’s something of a cure-all, huh?”
    â€œThat’s why I keep it on hand.”
    â€œAnd it’s easier to get than real supplies?”
    Shrugging, he said, “The men who make it want me to know as little about them as I want them to know of me.”
    â€œUnlike your friends in town.”
    He started to deny having friends, but ended up with another shrug.
    He hadn’t