A Soldier's Secret Read online

  “I’m getting some at the Bean.”

  He glanced at his watch. “You don’t have to be at the field for an hour and a half.”

  She shrugged. “I need to talk to Serena…about…some wedding stuff.”

  “I thought you ladies did that the other night.”

  “I…” She stopped, annoyed at herself for feeling any compulsion to explain. She pulled herself up. “I’m surprised you’re up already. After your late night, I thought maybe you’d be sleeping in.”

  He straightened. “I didn’t know you were up.” His forehead crinkled as he looked at her.

  “I wasn’t. I was sound asleep until some noise outside woke me.” She clenched her car keys in her fist.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Noise?” He raised his chin. “What kind of noise?”

  She swung around. “What difference does it make?” she snapped. “I was jolted awake and didn’t get the sleep I should have.”

  “Oh. Okay. No sleep. Is that why you look like you’re ready to bite the head off a bat?”

  She stalked over, slammed her briefcase on the counter and picked up the extra cup setting next to the coffeepot. Grabbing the pot, she said, “I guess so,” and then poured herself a cupful. Yes, she was cranky, but it sure wasn’t because of sleep. She went over to the table in the nook, kitty-corner from him, but couldn’t sit. She got back up, took her cup and stood at the counter squarely across from him. “I wouldn’t have had the problem, though, if there hadn’t been so much racket outside in the middle of the night.”

  He grinned sheepishly, and apparently getting her drift, nodded and held up one hand, palm out. “Okay, I get it. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

  “You won’t do it again? That sounds like a little boy talking to his mother. I’m not your mother. I’m the woman who’s helping you out. The woman you told you were going to abstain for the duration. That you weren’t going to date.”

  “It wasn’t—”

  “You lied to me, Mac. That’s what’s so disappointing. I’ve done everything I can to help you, and you lied to me.” Her voice wavered, and unable to look at him, she took a sip of her coffee. “I couldn’t care less if you’re dating or whatever, but at least be honest about it.”

  “Whoa.” He slipped off the stool, came around and dropped an arm over her shoulder. “Wait a minute. I’ve never lied to you about anything.”

  Angling her head, she looked him in the eye, but couldn’t get a word out.

  He reached to take her hand. “I mean it, Nats. Never.”

  She pulled away. “And the woman last night? Just my imagination?”

  “No. But it wasn’t anything. I’d dated Wendy for a while, but when you agreed to help me, I told her I couldn’t see her anymore. When she heard I got married, she was angry. She thought I had been two-timing her. She came over just as I got back from the pool tournament. And…well, she wasn’t a happy camper.”

  Natalia tapped her fingernails against her cup. It really wasn’t any of her business. Mac could do as he wanted. What difference did it make if he was with someone? “So…were you kissing her to make her happy again?”

  He blinked, and for a moment, he let his head drop. Then lifted his chin. And for some reason, her gaze went to the scar near his left eye—the scar he carried as a result of saving her life.

  “Wendy’s a nice person. She was feeling badly, and after she kissed me goodbye, I hugged her. I think she’s okay with everything now, but—”

  Now it was Natalia’s turn to hold up a hand. “No. Stop. I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “Geez. That was really stupid. I don’t know why I even said anything. Your personal life is none of my business.”

  Mac threw his hands in the air. “Is it or isn’t it? I’m getting confused. The only thing I know right now is that I didn’t lie to you. Beyond that—”

  “Forget it. I’m forgetting it.”

  He shrugged. “Okay, but I don’t understand the problem.”

  Her blood pressure spiked. “No, I don’t understand. I don’t understand why you didn’t ask her to be your…temporary wife. It would have saved me a lot of trouble.”

  He jammed a hand in his pocket and paced, three steps away, then three back to the counter, his anger clearly visible in the hard set of his mouth. He plopped down again on the stool, facing her. “I didn’t ask Wendy because I don’t trust anyone like I trust you. And besides that, I know Wendy, or any other woman, would have expectations. She’d probably want the marriage to be more than it was, and God knows what else.

  “But you’re different. You don’t have all those romantic, happily-ever-after ideas. You don’t sit around and fantasize about getting married and having kids and all that stuff other women do. You have your own life. It’s one of the things I truly admire about you. And best of all, you don’t want to be married any more than I do.”

  He took her hands in his. “Ours is the perfect marriage.” Then, smiling, he turned on the puppy dog eyes and added, “Right?”

  Mac didn’t like confrontation, but when his integrity or something he felt passionately about was questioned, the other person had better take cover. He was also the most honest person she knew. So what the devil was wrong with her?

  Mac was right. She was different. She was self-sufficient and perfectly happy with her life as it was. She didn’t need someone else in her life.

  She smiled obliquely. “Right.”

  He squeezed her hand, then stood. “I’m really, really sorry I’ve inconvenienced you so much, though. I never intended for it to be a long-drawn-out thing.”

  Oh, God. She bit her bottom lip. “I’m sorry. I’m not all that inconvenienced, and I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I must be PMSing or something.”

  He kept looking at her, then shook his head. “Okay. No big deal. As long as I know we’re cool now.” He rubbed the side of her arm.

  She gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m here until the job is done.”

  His wide, white smile returned as he reached to hug her. “That’s my girl.”

  Her blood rushed. She gave him a quick squeeze, then glanced at the clock on the wall behind him. “Oh, man, I have to go. Serena’s going to think I was in an accident or something.” Natalia grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

  Before she got there, Mac added, “We should get an early start for Phoenix in the morning. D.J.’s plane arrives at noon.”

  NATALIA PULLED INTO the Bean, happy that there were no cars out front yet. Talking to Serena was like going to sunshine therapy. She always felt cheerier when she left.

  “Hey, Serena. Anyone here?” Natalia called, announcing her arrival. The familiar bakery scent enveloped her like comfortable arms. A moment passed and when she didn’t hear an answer, she started back to the kitchen. “Serena? Are you here?”

  “She is, but she’s indisposed,” Cole called out. “C’mon back. I could use some help.”

  Natalia found him in the kitchen taking a batch of cinnamon rolls out of the oven. “What’s going on? Where’s Serena?”

  “She’s upstairs in the bathroom with morning sickness. And if she doesn’t get over it soon, I’m going to miss a meeting with investors.”

  “She’s okay, isn’t she?”

  “The doc says she’s fine and that it’ll probably go away in another month or so.” He set the giant tray on the countertop across from the professional baking oven he’d had installed for Serena a few months earlier. “My mom was supposed to be here to help, but she’s late, too.”

  “I’ve got a couple of minutes if you want me to handle things until one of them shows up.”

  “Would you? That would be awesome,” Cole said, sounding like Sam, his younger sidekick at the Purple Jeep Touring Company.

  “Sure. I’m getting to be an old hand at it,” she said, then went over and pulled the oven mitts from his hands.

  “Ten minutes on the next batch.” He pointed to the timer.

  “Got it. Now get out o
f here.”

  He hugged her, and within seconds was gone. She turned back to watch the timer, smiling at how well everything was unfolding for Serena and Cole. Because of the café’s statewide popularity, they’d planned to open up another Cosmic Bean café in Phoenix, but suddenly they had investors wanting to talk to them about franchising.

  It was hard to believe Cole had been the town rebel in school when he and Serena had first gone together. Hard to believe he’d spent time in jail for a car accident that had killed a high school friend and injured Serena’s brother, Ryan, who carried the scars to this day.

  And after all that, Cole and Serena had gotten back together, and he and Ryan were still best friends.

  Natalia sometimes wondered what her life would have been like if she’d lived in Spirit Creek as long as her friends had. Would she feel the same bond they all shared from their history together? Or would she have had the same solitary life she’d had with her parents in New Paltz?

  And every time she wondered, she came up with the same answer. Living with her parents would have been the same anywhere.

  Every minute of her time had been accounted for, and friends were not only discouraged, the few she had went through a rigorous approval process that excluded everyone who didn’t meet the criteria. Dating wasn’t allowed, so when she did finally rebel in college, she’d gone way overboard. Hence her early marriage disaster.

  They’d married during her senior year, totally disregarding her parent’s advice that Derek was going to ruin her life. When she realized they’d been right, and that she’d married him for all the wrong reasons, it was too late. Thinking about it now, she realized she and Derek had never even been good friends.

  Mac had been her friend from almost the moment they met. God, she’d acted like such a juvenile this morning.

  “Are you committing that clock to memory?” Serena’s voice came from behind her.

  Natalia swung around. “Hey, Serena.” She hugged her. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine. It just takes a while some mornings. Cole’s mom is going to come in and help for a bit.” She wiped her cheek with her forearm. “Thank heaven for that.”

  “Good. That’s one less thing for me to worry about.”

  Serena put on the oven gloves and prepared to take out the next batch of rolls. “I didn’t know you worried about anything.”

  Natalia leaned a thigh against the corner of the antique drop-leaf table next to the window. “I don’t. That’s the problem. All of a sudden I’m worrying about the bank loan, and how long I’m going to have to stay at Mac’s, and how I should act when we pick up D.J. tomorrow. I even jumped all over Mac this morning for seeing a woman last night.”

  Serena pulled out the tray from the oven, and as she set it down, said, “Mac’s seeing someone?”

  Natalia shook her head, started pacing. “No. Not really. He was talking with this woman and I thought he was seeing her when he wasn’t, but I didn’t know that. And when I saw him kissing her I accused him of lying, because he said he wasn’t going to date, and—”

  “Whoa.” Serena turned, grabbed one of Natalia’s hands. She’d often said that if someone tied her hands together, Natalia wouldn’t be able to talk, and she was right. “Mac lied to you?”

  “No, he didn’t. And that’s the problem. I thought he did, because he was seeing this woman, but he really wasn’t. And when I found out, I felt like an idiot.”

  “Okay. Now I get it.” She motioned for Natalia to help frost the first batch of rolls, which had cooled.

  Natalia picked up a frosting bag. “You get what?”

  “That you got jealous and acted out.”

  Natalia’s jaw dropped. She placed her hands on her hips. “I did not get jealous. I thought he lied to me. Good friends don’t lie to each other.”

  Serena nodded toward her legs. “You’re drizzling on your jeans.”

  “Damn.” Natalia put down the bag, tore off a paper towel and began wiping her pants. “If you lied to me, I’d be upset, too.”

  “Okay, so if you now know he wasn’t lying, why are you so upset?”

  “I’m upset with myself. I acted like a possessive wife accusing her innocent husband of cheating.”

  “But you thought he was.” Serena artfully drizzled the cream cheese mixture over a batch of rolls.

  “That’s not the point. We’re not husband and wife. We have no relationship. There’s no reason for me to feel threatened and act like an idiot.”

  “Threatened, huh.” Serena smiled wickedly, then went back to the job at hand.

  Natalia grabbed the bag again and got to work on the remaining rolls. “Wrong phrasing. I just know whatever I was doing was ridiculous.” She squeezed harder and the bag broke in her hand. Frosting squished through her fingers. She pursed her lips. Stared at the mess. “I think I’m done here.”

  The sirenlike ring of her phone made her jump. “It’s the red line.” Mountain Air had a special ring for emergency calls. She reached into her back pocket, sticky fingers and all, and saw the call number was Mac’s. “What the…” She pressed the button. “What’s wrong?”

  “I just wanted to remind you that we need to leave by six tomorrow morning in order to see my attorney at nine. We should have plenty of time then to deal with anything that might come up before we meet D.J.”

  “That’s it?”

  There was a pause on the other end. “Yeah.”

  “It’s going to be a long day if you’re just sitting around waiting for the time to pass.”

  “I’m not. I have things to do.”

  “Okay. Then I’ll see you tonight.”

  “After work?”

  “Yes. After work.”

  “Maybe we should leave tonight?”

  She sighed. “Mac…go pound a nail or something. I’ll see you later.”

  “You could sleep in the car on the way.”

  He was wired, understandably so. Her nerves felt jittery, too. She rolled her eyes. “We’ll talk later.”

  They hung up, and as Natalia stood there with her fingers and phone and jeans full of frosting, Serena smiled. “Sounds like all’s well on the home front.”

  Natalia flipped her hair back over her shoulder, away from her face. She rubbed an itch on her cheek with her one clean pinkie finger. “It is…other than Mac’s all uptight and crazy excited about meeting D.J. tomorrow.” She licked a finger, then another, then stopped and looked at her friend. “I can understand both, though. It’s a really big deal. Life changing.”

  “I know.” Serena’s eyes softened as she placed both hands on her belly. “It might seem like a lot to go through now, but having a child is the most wonderful thing in the world. You’ll see.”

  Except it wasn’t her child, and she wouldn’t be around to enjoy any wonderful things. Natalia went to the sink and ran water over her hands. “I just hope, for Mac’s sake, that everything goes smoothly.”

  “Whatever happens, it will be worth it. And maybe this trial run will change your mind about getting married and having children.”

  Natalia grabbed a paper towel and took a swipe at the caked-on frosting on her jeans. “I’m fine just as I am, Serena. I don’t have to be married and have kids to be happy.” She took another swipe at the frosting.

  “I’m…just fine.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  MAC WAS WAITING FOR HER when she walked in the door.

  “I took your advice,” he said as she slipped off her jacket and hung it in the front hall closet. “As the kids say, I’m chillaxin’.” He raised a bottle of beer in his hand.

  They’d had no rescues today, not even an emergency Medevac assist, and Mac must’ve called her ten times over the course of the day on her regular line. Other than his calls and Nick nattering away about his lackluster love life, ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law from hell, Natalia had spent the better part of the day working on the volunteer training program she wanted to implement at the Mountain Air site when the deal went throu
gh.

  “Something smells really good,” she said. “And that beer looks good, too.”

  “One Sam Adams coming up,” Mac said on his way to the bar. “And what you smell is pasta MacAllister.”

  She looked at him askance. “What’s with naming everything you make?”

  He opened a beer and handed it to her. Ignoring her question, he said, “Instead of pounding nails to pass the time, I decided to try out one or two of those cookbooks I bought, and I think it turned out pretty damned good.” He clinked his beer against hers. “Here’s to tomorrow.”

  Natalia laughed. “Did you say you were chillin’ or swillin’?”

  Before she finished the sentence, he took her hand and led her to the kitchen. “C’mon, you’ve got to taste this stuff. It’s amazing. I may have to get a part-time job as a chef, and who knows, maybe I’ll open a restaurant.”

  “And maybe you can have your PT office in the back of the restaurant and we can pick you up for rescues in the parking lot.”

  He stopped at the stove and let go of her hand. “Okay, maybe I overstated my expertise a little bit, but you have to taste this. I think D.J. will love it.” He produced a gigantic spoonful of something that looked like rigatoni and held it up to her lips.

  “It looks hot.” She blew on it a couple times before opening her mouth.

  His eyes rounded with eager expectation as she chewed.

  “Mmm. Yummy.”

  Mac grinned from ear to ear.

  “You are definitely a man of many talents.”

  He puffed up his chest. “I am, aren’t I.”

  He extended an arm toward the formal dining room on the other side of the double archway.

  The table was set, candles and all. Frowning as she turned back to him, she said, “Are we expecting company?”

  “Nope. Just us. But I needed the practice. Can’t have a kid thinking his dad doesn’t know the finer points of dining.” Mac walked to the table and adjusted an already perfectly placed napkin. “The internet is an amazing resource for everything. All the Emily Post stuff, it’s all right there. What do you think? Are you ready to eat, or do you want to wait a bit?”