Back in Kansas Read online

  In all honesty, Claudie had enjoyed her visit with her sister more than she thought possible. They had absolutely nothing in common but somehow that didn’t matter. The novelty of the feeling made her smile.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t make more money as a hooker, Claudie,” Val said, apropos of nothing. “I mean, you’re pretty and thin. Guys go for girls who look like you.”

  Val’s bluntness didn’t shock her. It was the Val she remembered. “Prostitution doesn’t have a lot of benefits or job security. It’s like any other sales job—if you’re not out selling, you don’t get paid. I got real sick of sellin’.” My soul, she added silently.

  Val nodded sagely as she began cracking eggs into a bowl. “Yeah, I know how that goes. Some days it’s all I can do to make myself go to the video store. If it weren’t for Mom…”

  She didn’t complete the thought, so Claudie asked, “Is she demanding?”

  Val’s shoulder’s stiffened. “I prefer to call it high maintenance. The more I encourage her to go out and reconnect with the world, the more she pesters me about settling down and having kids.” She gave a derisive snort. “Like kids would be on either of our lists.”

  Claudie was taken aback by her sister’s vehemence. An image of Brady flashed in her mind. “I think I might like to have kids someday,” she admitted softly—as much to herself as Val.

  Val looked dumbfounded. “How could you even think about it after what our mother went through? Do you remember how she looked at the end? I was only twelve but I can still picture her in the hospital. Her skin looked like waxed paper. Do you know I can’t stand to touch the stuff even today?” A shudder passed through her body. “She was as depleted as an empty corn husk.”

  Claudie didn’t argue the point. She’d been with her mother right up to end. She’d watched her waste away like a stream drying up in the summer heat.

  Val spun back to the counter. “Nope,” she said with conviction, “not me. I don’t plan to be anybody’s baby factory.”

  Claudie didn’t say anything. The only sound was the snap and crunch of Val breaking eggs into a bowl. Both women jumped when the doorbell rang. “Would you get that, Claud? It’s probably Mom. She usually stops over once or twice a day on weekends.”

  I should have left an hour ago, Claudie thought stifling a sigh. She trudged down the short hallway to the foyer. Plastering a fake smile on her face, she opened the door. “Bo.” His name came out as a strangled yelp of shock that brought her sister running.

  “Hi, Claudie, long time no see,” he said, his voice dangerously soft, deceivingly calm. His eyes burned, a muscle in his cheek twitched, his left hand gripped the threshold as if to block her escape.

  What he couldn’t know was how glad she was to see him. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him so when he glanced at Val and said, “You must be Valery. I’m Bo.” He reached around Claudie to give Val a quick handshake then said, “Excuse us a minute, but this is long overdue.”

  Before Claudie could react, his right arm shot out and he hauled her up against his chest and kissed her. Hard. A kiss unlike any she’d ever known. Possessive. Passionate. And, above all, welcome.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  THEY’D KISSED BEFORE—friendly pecks, one or two tentative investigations. But this kiss was different. Bo was in zero gravity before he knew what hit him. Her arms were around his neck. Her tongue touched his. Her tongue. Her sweet, wonderful tongue.

  A fake cough blew him right out of orbit. He jumped back like a kid on his first date. When he realized he was looking at an amused sister not an angry dad, he blushed with chagrin. “There,” he said, with as much bluster as he could fake, “that’ll teach you to run away without telling anybody.”

  Valery laughed. Claudie looked too stunned to move. I freaked her out. Damn. Way to go, Lester.

  Bo hadn’t planned to kiss her. He’d promised Zach to take things slow and easy with Claudie, but something had come over him the minute he’d seen her standing there looking bright and chipper. He’d had to touch her just to reassure himself she was real.

  And she was real all right—real pissed off. He could tell by the way her shoulders stiffened and her eyes narrowed. He’d learned long ago the best defense was to hold his ground.

  “Let’s get it over with. Do you want to yell at me? Fine. I want to yell, too. But I’m willing to let you go first.”

  “This sounds like fun. Can I watch?” Valery asked, smiling mischievously.

  “No,” Claudie snapped. “There won’t be any yelling because Bo isn’t staying. He can just jump back on whatever white horse he rode into town on and go home.”

  “They didn’t have any white horses at the car rental agency. I got the last thing on the lot, but I’m altogether sure it’s a car,” he said, looking over his shoulder. “It was the best they had on a Sunday. I guess there’s a whole slew of veterans in town for the holiday.”

  Her lips pursed as if to scold him, so he continued his nonsense before she could speak. Odd, he thought, all this time to think about what he wanted to say and it had never crossed his mind to prepare a speech. “Listen, Claudie, I know you don’t want me here, but I’m not leaving. If you and Val are heading to Kansas…” She made a surprised sound and covered her lips with her hand. Bo explained, “My cousin’s with the FBI. He helped me put all the pieces together.”

  She shrank back. “You know? Everything?”

  His heart squeezed at the vulnerability in her tone. “Just the basics. Name, date of birth, vaccinations,” he said, trying to lighten the mood. “We found bits and pieces and kind of put them together the best we could. The Internet helped.”

  Claudie looked from him to Valery and back. “Why?”

  Now was not the time to blurt out the answer he’d given Zach so he said, “I was worried about you. You’re not the kind of person who just takes off without a reason, and I was afraid your reason might have to do with the past—the past that put you on the street.”

  Her brow shot up. “You thought I’d go back to hooking?”

  “Of course not. But whatever made you run away from home had to hurt a lot—I wasn’t about to let it hurt you again.”

  Valery suddenly lifted her chin and sniffed. “Oh, hell,” she exclaimed. “My butter’s burning.” She spun around and sprinted down the hall.

  Bo shifted from one foot to the other, waiting for some kind of sign. Claudie was looking at the ground. Bo’s jacket felt insufferably warm, despite the chilly breeze whistling through the two tall pines in Val’s front yard. Claudie wrapped her arms around her chest and slowly lifted her chin. “I should be mad, but I guess I’m not too surprised. Ren said you’d gone to New York to look for Eve. I think in the back of my mind I knew you might come.”

  His heart started pumping normally, and he let out the breath he’d been holding. “Does that mean I can hang out with you and your sister or do I have to tail you all the way to Kansas?”

  She looked around his shoulder at his humble little two-door hatchback parked behind her station wagon. “Val isn’t going with me, so I guess you can tag along.”

  Bo had to work to keep his jubilation from showing, but she scowled as if sensing it. “I don’t know what you’re doing here or why you want to come with me, but this is my trip and I’m boss. If you don’t like it, tough.”

  He saluted her briskly. “Can I come in? I doubt if Val wants to heat up the outside with her electricity.”

  Claudie stepped aside so he could enter. Her scent enveloped him the minute she closed the door. It was warmer, more welcoming than the smells emanating from the kitchen. Bo shrugged off the parka he’d bummed from Matt and laid it across the back of a sofa as she led him down the hallway.

  “I hope you’re hungry, Bo,” Val called. “I always make enough for thrashers, as my mother likes to say,” Val said when they reached the kitchen.

  “Starved,” he said. And he was—for Claudie. Her rare and wonderful smile. Her hard-knock sense of
humor. Her touch.

  Without words she offered him a cup of coffee. He nodded. Their fingers met during the exchange and Bo felt a jolt.

  He’d promised Zach to take things slow and easy with Claudie, but that might prove tougher than he’d thought—especially when she smiled that impish grin when she thought he wasn’t looking.

  CLAUDIE GRINNED. It was hard to keep from grinning when a white knight charged up on his trusty steed to rescue you. Granted the steed was a hunk of junk blocking the driveway, but the knight was hers. Bo. She had to keep staring at him for fear he’d disappear.

  Thankfully Val never stopped talking long enough for Claudie’s overt attention to become noticeable.

  “Claudie was like the big mean sister from hell growing up, weren’t you, Claud?” Val asked, her voice retaining a hint of the childhood whine that used to drive Claudie crazy. “I always thought she was picking on me. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized she was filling in for our mother.”

  She paused, her lips pursed pensively. “Mom was sick a lot. One thing after another. Then, the day after Christmas, Dad took her to the hospital and she never came home.” She looked at Claudie. “I remember you wouldn’t let anybody take down the Christmas tree because you said Mom had a special way of wrapping up the ornaments and nobody else could do it. Remember?”

  Claudie gripped her cup a little tighter. “No,” she lied, picturing her stepfather standing in the midst of shattered ornaments—green and red shards littering the hardwood floor beneath the scraggy pine. It was early morning, still dark enough that the lights from the Christmas tree filled the room with color. When he’d lifted a shiny silver ball to his face, she’d seen tears, and Claudie had known her mother was dead.

  Val frowned as if trying to remember some detail. “Sure you do. Because after Dad woke us up to tell us, I ran into the living room and the tree was gone and you were sweeping up needles. You were crying. I’d never seen you cry before. I think that scared me more than losing Mom.”

  She turned back to her cooking. Bo reached out to cover Claudie’s hand with his own, but she picked up her cup and walked to the sink. “How much longer, Val? I think I’ll run and close up my suitcase.”

  Val took a plate from the cupboard. “I’ll serve Bo first. Yours will be done in a minute.” Claudie watched her carefully arrange a sprig of parsley atop the creation then place it before Bo.

  He studied it a moment. “This looks better than what they serve in restaurants.” He took a bite and groaned in pleasure. “Oh, baby, this…is…sinful.”

  Claudie pivoted on her heel and marched away. Her heart was beating much faster than it should have been and she tried to tell herself she was just nervous about getting a late start, but she knew that was a lie. She stuffed her nightgown in her backpack as if it were a rag and yanked the zipper closed.

  “Yours is ready, sis,” Valery called as Claudie plunked her travel-size tube of toothpaste into her cosmetics bag.

  Claudie glanced in the mirror and practiced a fake smile. It was pathetic enough to make her smile for real.

  Claudie slid into the chair across from Bo, meeting his quizzical look with a nod. Aromatic steam from the plate Val set before her made Claudie inhale deeply. “Umm,” she said, her mouth watering.

  Oddly put out by its perfection, Claudie hacked down on the three-inch stack of eggs, ham and English muffin with her fork. Hot yolk squirted sideways sending a yellow stream across her left hand.

  “Oops,” Val said, turning away. “I forgot napkins.”

  Before Claudie could react, Bo reached out and lifted her hand, bending down as if to gallantly kiss the back of it. Instead, he sucked the egg from her skin, adding a last little lick before her sister returned.

  Claudie gaped in shock. She couldn’t decide whether to be angry or amused. Bo’s roguish wink sealed her fate. She laughed. “You are one sick puppy, Bo Lester,” she said.

  Val looked between them, a frown on her face. “What’d I miss?”

  Claudie took the pretty print napkin from her sister’s hand. “Nothing important. I’ve just agreed to travel with a madman. That’s all.”

  Obviously, upset to be out of the loop, Val turned back to the stove to dish her own plate. Inwardly, Claudie groaned. She didn’t want to upset her sister after coming all this way to visit. To her surprise, Bo soon had Val smiling as he regaled them with the horror story of his trip from hell with his cousin Matt.

  “First, I swear, there’s nothing like four feet of snow to bring out the crazies in New York. The bridges were like skating rinks and every taxi driver thought he was Wayne Gretzky. We were lucky to make it to the airport alive. Unfortunately, our flight was canceled—along with everybody else’s, so we ended up sleeping on the floor.”

  Claudie shuddered. “That’s disgusting.”

  “That’s not the worst of it,” he said, pausing dramatically. “The woman who was sitting beside Matt had a little dog in one of those plastic carriers. Turns out the dog had the worst halitosis imaginable…and it spent the whole night trying to lick Matt’s nose.”

  Val hooted with laughter. “What’d he do?”

  Bo shrugged. “He was asleep. He didn’t realize it until he woke up, then he nearly gagged.” He gave Claudie a wink. “He told me he’d been dreaming his ex-wife was trying to seduce him.”

  “Where’s Matt now?” Claudie asked, trying hard not to be charmed.

  Bo took a swallow of coffee. “On his way to Kansas—in case you headed there instead of here.”

  Claudie frowned. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the idea of having two men track her movements—one was bad enough.

  “What will he do until we get there?”

  “Scope things out. He was in law enforcement. He knows the routine.”

  Claudie rose and carried her plate to the sink. After scraping the leftovers into the garbage can, she reached for the handle of the faucet, but Val said, “Just leave it on the counter, Claudie. You cleaned up after all of us for years. I’ll do the dishes later, after you’re gone.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to come along?” Claudie asked, trying not to sound pathetically hopeful.

  Val let out a long, heartfelt sigh. “Like I told you last night—Otter Creek is the last place on Earth I’d go to voluntarily. I put that life behind me when I got adopted. And it sounds like you’ve got a nice life back in Sacramento, Claudie. I really don’t understand why you’re doing this.”

  “I told you last night. I don’t want the same thing to happen to Sherry that happened to me.”

  “But why do you care? You haven’t seen her in ten years—she probably doesn’t even remember you, or any of us for that matter.”

  “Then she has a right to know. We’re her family.” Val’s groan twisted Bo’s stomach in a knot. “Big whoop. A brother in prison, a sister who’s an ex-hooker, another brother who drives a big truck and chases women other than his wife.” Claudie’s brows shot up in surprise, which prompted Val to add, “That’s what Zach told me. Seems Yancy can’t quite get his first wife out of his system.”

  Claudie frowned. “No family is perfect, but she still has a right to know us.”

  Val’s eyes took on a speculative glint. “Are you sure this isn’t more about your revenge on Dad? If that Web page you showed me is right, he might have cleaned up his act and your coming along will open a big ugly can of worms that could ruin his life.” She smiled serenely. “Not that he doesn’t have it coming for what he did to you, but I’m just curious about your motivation.”

  Rather than answer her sister’s question, Claudie started clearing the table, but Val had given Bo a smug look as if she had her answer.

  BO TRANSFERRED his bag from the trunk of the rental car to the back of the station wagon, which was idling with the heater blasting in an effort to defrost the windows. He hadn’t decided if he truly trusted Claudie to follow him back to the rental lot, but he figured she was too softhearted to take off with hi
s luggage.

  He looked toward the small white bungalow where the two sisters were standing on the stoop. Claudie turned to leave, but Val stopped her, then dashed back inside. Claudie looked at Bo and threw up her hands in frustration. Dressed in a purple-and-white ski sweater and black leggings—her blond hair its usual “bed-head” style, she looked like a teenager ready for a day on the slopes.

  Seeing the sunlight pick up streaks of white gold in her mop of waves, Bo was struck by how angelic she looked, as if the tragedy and ugliness of her past had bounced off. Bo had defended her without hesitation, but now his trepidation returned. What was she seeking? Revenge? Redemption? Maybe just a simple “I’m sorry”?

  Bo wished he had a clear-cut answer, but he doubted if Claudie knew herself. They looked at each other from across the distance. A quick smile touched her lips then disappeared. Bo’s heart turned over as giddy as a kid with his first crush. He slammed the rear door of the wagon with more force than necessary. Claudie’s chin tilted questioningly, but only for a second. Val returned and Claudie turned to face her.

  Bo couldn’t hear their conversation, but he headed in that direction when he saw Val hand Claudie a white box the size of a toaster oven. As he approached, he heard Claudie ask, “How’d you get it?”

  “Dad sent it to me when I graduated from high school. I don’t know how he knew where I lived. We’d moved up here shortly after my adoption was final—Mom wanted us to make a fresh start, and I’d never had any contact with him or the boys after we left town. There wasn’t a card or anything, but his name was on the return address. Mom said maybe it was his way of apologizing for everything that went wrong.”

  Bo joined Claudie on the stoop in time to see her lift the lid of the box, which on closer look appeared to be a cheap jewelry box covered in white watered silk slightly yellowed with age.

  “It’s Mom’s stuff,” Claudie said, her voice hoarse with unshed tears.

  Bo looked at Valery who lifted one shoulder as if to say, “Whatever.”

  “Don’t you want to keep any of it?” Claudie asked. “You might want to give something to your kids some day….”